
Hare research
Leaders
Hare research began at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, in 2013. In our latest project, the Research Council of Finland–funded HARECY consortium, we investigate in collaboration with the mitochondrial metabolism and bioenergetics-research group at Tampere university the evolution of life-history strategies and how the costs of metabolic adaptations influence, among other things, cell cycle regulation and thereby aging, reproduction, and cancer susceptibility, using hares as model organisms. The project continues the work of the CROSSHARES consortium, where we explored, among other aspects, the intracellular mechanisms maintaining species boundaries in lagomorphs.
We are also interested in the population genetics of Finnish hares, the adaptation mechanisms of the brown hare to northern environments, and the dispersal history of the species.
In our work we apply broad range of tools from genomics to cell and molecular biology. To facilitate our work, as well as for the benefit of everybody working on hare genetics, we have also published the reference genomes for the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and the brown hare (Lepus europaeus). The genomes can be accessed and viewed through the NCBI-genome browser.
Our research group has also participated in the Biodiversity Genomics Europe project with a case study in which we use the reference genomes we have assembled to investigate hybridization between the brown hare and the mountain hare, as well as to reconstruct the dispersal history of the brown hare.
Cooperation
Keywords
Leaders
Post-doctoral Researchers
Doctoral Researchers
Other group members
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Manu Soininmäki
Publications
14 items-
Chromosome-level reference genome assembly for the mountain hare (Lepus timidus)
Fekete, Zsófia; Absolon, Dominic E.; Michell, Craig; Wood, Jonathan M.D.; Goffart, Steffi; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko L.O.. 2025. Peer community journal. 5: . e14 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Exploring mitonuclear interactions in the regulation of cell physiology: insights from interspecies cybrids
Gaertner, Kateryna; Tapanainen, Riikka; Saari, Sina; Fekete, Zsófia; Goffart, Steffi; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko LO; Dufour, Eric. 2025. Experimental cell research. 446: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Whole-Genome Sequencing-Based Population Genetic Analysis of Wild and Domestic Rabbit Breeds
Fekete, Zsófia; Német, Zoltán; Ninausz, Nóra; Fehér, Péter; Schiller, Mátyás; Alnajjar, Maher; Szenes, Áron; Nagy, Tibor; Stéger, Viktor; Kontra, Levente; Barta, Endre. 2025. Animals. 15: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
High quality genome assembly of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) with chromosome-level scaffolding
Michell, Craig; Collins, Joanna; Laine, Pia K; Fekete, Zsófia; Tapanainen, Riikka; Wood, Jonathan M D; Goffart, Steffi; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko L O. 2024. Peer community journal. 4: . e26 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Rusakon aikakausi
Pohjoismäki, Jaakko. 2024. Metsästäjä. 73: 10–13 E1 Popularised article, newspaper article -
Species differences in glycerol-3-phosphate metabolism reveals trade-offs between metabolic adaptations and cell proliferation
Gaertner, Kateryna; Terzioglu, Mügen; Michell, Craig; Tapanainen, Riikka; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko; Dufour, Eric; Saari, Sina. 2024. Biochimica et biophysica acta: bioenergetics. 2025; 1866: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Species-specific variation in mitochondrial genome tandem repeat polymorphisms in hares (Lepus spp., Lagomorpha, Leporidae) provides insight into their evolution
Tapanainen, Riikka; Aasumets, Koit; Fekete, Zsófia; Goffart, Steffi; Dufour, Eric; LO Pohjoismäki, Jaakko. 2024. Gene. 926: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Molecular phenotyping uncovers differences in basic housekeeping functions among closely related species of hares (Lepus spp., Lagomorpha: Leporidae)
Gaertner, Kateryna; Michell, Craig; Tapanainen, Riikka; Goffart, Steffi; Saari, Sina; Soininmäki, Manu; Dufour, Eric; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko LO. 2022. Molecular ecology. 2023; 32: 4097-4117 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Mountain- and brown hare genetic polymorphisms to survey local adaptations and conservation status of the heath hare (Lepus timidus sylvaticus, Nilsson 1831)
Michell, Craig T; Pohjoismäki, Jaakko LO; Spong, Göran; Thulin, Carl-Gustaf. 2022. Scientific data. 9: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Hybridization with mountain hares increases the functional allelic repertoire in brown hares
Pohjoismäki, Jaakko LO; Michell, Craig; Levänen, Riikka; Smith, Steve. 2021. Scientific reports. 11: 15771 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research