Dr Bettina Schirrmeister

Research summary

I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the early history of life on Earth and the origin of multicellularity. My work focuses mainly on the evolution of cyanobacteria, formerly known as blue green algae. Cyanobacteria originated probably already in the Archean Eon. Around 2.4 billion years ago they are responsible for an increase of atmospheric oxygen, referred to as the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE). First evidence for various unicellular and multicellular cyanobacterial species is found in rocks from the famous, 1.88 by old, Gunflint chert in Canada. With my work I hope to identify, (i) the origin of ...

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Selected publications

• Schirrmeister, BE, Alexandre, A & Bagheri, HC 2011, ‘The origin of multicellularity in cyanobacteria’. BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol 11.

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Recent publications

• Schirrmeister, BE, Vos, JMd, Alexandre, A & Bagheri, HC 2013, ‘Evolution of multicellularity coincided with increased diversification of cyanobacteria and the Great Oxidation Event’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
• Schirrmeister, BE, Dalquen, DA, Anisimova, M & Bagheri, HC 2012, ‘Gene copy number variation and its significance in cyanobacterial phylogeny’. BMC Microbiology, vol 12.

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View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system