Publications | Petar Pajic

2026

Evolutionary Balancing of Genetic Consequence and Innovation in Mammals Through Variable Number Tandem Repeats

Petar Pajic^*, Omer Gokcumen

Selected

Genome Biology and Evolution JOURNAL

2025

Saliva Protein Genes in Humans Were Shaped During Primate Evolution

Petar Pajic^*, Luane Landau, Omer Gokcumen, Stefan Ruhl

Genome Biology and Evolution JOURNAL

2025

Tuning the Tropism and Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like Particles for mRNA Delivery

Petar Pajic^*, Qi Yang, Bruce A. Davidson, Xuyang Chen, Omer Gokcumen, Min Gao, Sriram Neelamegham

Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 53 JOURNAL

2024

Reconstruction of the Human Amylase Locus Reveals Ancient Duplications Seeding Modern-Day Variation

Feyza Yilmaz, Charikleia Karageorgiou, Kwondo Kim, Petar Pajic^*, Kendra Scheer, Christine R. Beck, Ann-Marie Torregrossa, Charles Lee, Omer Gokcumen

Selected

Science JOURNAL

2023

Ancient AMY1 Gene Duplications Primed the Amylase Locus for Adaptive Evolution Upon the Onset of Agriculture

Feyza Yilmaz, Charikleia Karageorgiou, Kwondo Kim, Petar Pajic^*, Christine R. Beck, Ann-Marie Torregrossa, Charles Lee, Omer Gokcumen, Human Genome Structural Variation Consortium

bioRxiv PREPRINT

2023

Human Subsistence and Signatures of Selection on Chemosensory Genes

Carrie C. Veilleux, Eva C. Garrett, Petar Pajic^*, Marie Saitou, Joseph Ochieng, Lilia D. Dagsaan, Nathaniel J. Dominy, George H. Perry, Omer Gokcumen, Amanda D. Melin

Communications Biology JOURNAL

2022

A Mechanism of Gene Evolution Generating Mucin Function

Petar Pajic^*, Shichen Shen, Jun Qu, Alison J. May, Sarah Knox, Stefan Ruhl, Omer Gokcumen

Selected

Science Advances JOURNAL

2020

Modified Sialic Acids on Mucus and Erythrocytes Inhibit Influenza A Virus Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase Functions

Karen N. Barnard, Brynn K. Alford-Lawrence, David W. Buchholz, Brian R. Wasik, Justin R. LaClair, Hai Yu, Rebekah Honce, Stefan Ruhl, Petar Pajic^*, Erin K. Daugherity, Xi Chen, Stacey L. Schultz-Cherry, Hector C. Aguilar, Ajit Varki, Colin R. Parrish

Journal of Virology JOURNAL

2019

Independent Amylase Gene Copy Number Bursts Correlate with Dietary Preferences in Mammals

Petar Pajic^*, Pavlos Pavlidis, Kirsten Dean, Lubov Neznanova, Rose-Anne Romano, Danielle Garneau, Erin Daugherity, Anja Globig, Stefan Ruhl, Omer Gokcumen

Selected

eLife JOURNAL

2016

The Psoriasis-Associated Deletion of Late Cornified Envelope Genes LCE3B and LCE3C Has Been Maintained Under Balancing Selection Since Human-Denisovan Divergence

Petar Pajic^*, Yen-Lung Lin, Duo Xu, Omer Gokcumen

BMC Ecology and Evolution JOURNAL