Biologist interested in the biology of sponges, octocorals, and their bacteria

2021

  • Vargas, Sergio, Thorsten Zimmer, Nicola Conci, Martin Lehmann, and Gert Wörheide. 2021. Transcriptional Response of the Calcification and Stress Response Toolkits in an Octocoral under Heat and pH Stress. Molecular Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16266

  • Orsi, William D., Tobias Magritsch, Sergio Vargas, Ömer K. Coskun, Aurele Vuillemin, Sebastian Höhna, Gert Wörheide, Steven D’Hondt, B. Jesse Shapiro, and Paul Carini. 2021. Genome Evolution in Bacteria Isolated from Million-Year-Old Subseafloor Sediment. mBio 12 (4): e0115021.

  • Conci, Nicola, Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2021. The Biology and Evolution of Calcite and Aragonite Mineralization in Octocorallia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 81.

  • Musser, Jacob M., Klaske J. Schippers, Michael Nickel, Giulia Mizzon, Andrea B. Kohn, Constantin Pape, Paolo Ronchi, et al. 2021. Profiling Cellular Diversity in Sponges Informs Animal Cell Type and Nervous System Evolution. Science 374 (6568): 717–23.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Laura Leiva, and Gert Wörheide. 2021. Short-Term Exposure to High-Temperature Water Causes a Shift in the Microbiome of the Common Aquarium Sponge Lendenfeldia chondrodes. Microbial Ecology 81 (1): 213–22.

  • Voigt, Oliver, Benedetta Fradusco, Carolin Gut, Charalampos Kevrekidis, Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2021. Carbonic Anhydrases: An Ancient Tool in Calcareous Sponge Biomineralization. Frontiers in Genetics 12: 383.

2020

  • Vuillemin, Aurèle, Sergio Vargas, Ömer K. Coskun, Robert Pockalny, Richard W. Murray, David C. Smith, Steven D’Hondt, and William D. Orsi. 2020. Atribacteria Reproducing over Millions of Years in the Atlantic Abyssal Subseafloor. mBio 11 (5). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01937-20.

  • Breedy, Odalisca, Hector M. Guzman, Catalina Murillo, and Sergio Vargas. 2020. A New Species of the Genus Psammogorgia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the Hannibal Bank in Pacific Panama. Bulletin of Marine Science 96 (1): 169–80.

  • Conci, Nicola, Martin Lehmann, Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2020. Comparative Proteomics of Octocoral and Scleractinian Skeletomes and the Evolution of Coral Calcification. Genome Biology and Evolution 12 (9): 1623–35.

2019

  • Conci, Nicola, Gert Wörheide, and Sergio Vargas. 2019. New Non-Bilaterian Transcriptomes Provide Novel Insights into the Evolution of Coral Skeletomes. Genome Biology and Evolution 11 (11): 3068–81.

  • Vuillemin, Aurèle, Scott D. Wankel, Ömer K. Coskun, Tobias Magritsch, Sergio Vargas, Emily R. Estes, Arthur J. Spivack, et al. 2019. Archaea Dominate Oxic Subseafloor Communities over Multimillion-Year Time Scales. Science Advances 5 (6): eaaw4108.

2018

  • Coskun, Ömer K., Monica Pichler, Sergio Vargas, Stuart Gilder, and William D. Orsi. 2018. Linking Uncultivated Microbial Populations and Benthic Carbon Turnover by Using Quantitative Stable Isotope Probing. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 84 (18). https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01083-18.

  • Shimpi, Gaurav G., Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2018. Modified Parallel Strategies for Preparation of Heteroduplex Plasmids for in Vitro Mismatch Repair Assays. Analytical Biochemistry 556 (September): 35–39.

  • Eitel, Michael, Warren R. Francis, Frédérique Varoqueaux, Jean Daraspe, Hans-Jürgen Osigus, Stefan Krebs, Sergio Vargas, Helmut Blum, Gray A. Williams, Bernd Schierwater, Gert Wörheide. 2018. Comparative Genomics and the Nature of Placozoan Species. PLoS Biology 16 (7): e2005359.

  • Schuster, Astrid, Sergio Vargas, Ingrid Knapp, Shirley A. Pomponi, Robert J. Toonen, Dirk Erpenbeck, Gert Woerheide. 2018. Divergence times in demosponges (Porifera): first insights from new mitogenomes and the inclusion of fossils in a birth-death clock model. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18 (1): 114.

  • Pichler, Monica, Ömer K. Coskun, Ana Sofia Ortega, Nicola Conci, Gert Wörheide, Sergio Vargas, William D. Orsi. 2018. A 16S rRNA gene sequencing and analysis protocol for the Illumina MiniSeq platform. Microbiology Open 215: e00611.

  • Mills, Daniel B., Warren R. Francis, Sergio Vargas, Morten Larsen, Coen P. H. Elemans, Donald E. Canfield, and Gert Wörheide. 2018. The Last Common Ancestor of Animals Lacked the HIF Pathway and Respired in Low-Oxygen Environments. eLife 7: e31176.

2017

  • Vargas, Sergio, Martin Dohrmann, Christian Göcke, Dorte Janussen, and Gert Wörheide. 2017. Nuclear and Mitochondrial Phylogeny of Rossella (Hexactinellida: Lyssacinosida, Rossellidae): A Species and a Species Flock in the Southern Ocean. Polar Biology 40 (12): 2435–44.

  • Voolstra, Christian R., Giga Community of, Gert Wörheide, and Jose V. Lopez. 2017. Advancing Genomics through the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA). Invertebrate Systematics 31 (1): 1–7.

  • González-Pech, Raúl A., Sergio Vargas, Warren R. Francis, and Gert Wörheide. 2017. Transcriptomic Resilience of the Montipora digitata Holobiont to Low pH. Frontiers in Marine Science 4: 403.

  • Poliseno, Angelo, Alvaro Altuna, Carlo Cerrano, Gert Wörheide, and Sergio Vargas. 2017. Historical Biogeography and Mitogenomics of Two Endemic Mediterranean Gorgonians (Holaxonia, Plexauridae). Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 17 (2): 365–73.

  • Poliseno, Angelo, Christian Feregrino, Stéphane Sartoretto, Didier Aurelle, Gert Wörheide, Catherine S. McFadden, and Sergio Vargas. 2017. Comparative Mitogenomics, Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of Leptogorgia (Gorgoniidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 115: 181-189 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2017.08.001

  • Shimpi, Gaurav G., Sergio Vargas, Angelo Poliseno, and Gert Wörheide. 2017. Mitochondrial RNA Processing in Absence of tRNA Punctuations in Octocorals. BMC Molecular Biology 18 (1): 16.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Martin Dohrmann, Christian Göcke, Dorte Janussen, and Gert Wörheide. 2017. Nuclear and Mitochondrial Phylogeny of Rossella (Hexactinellida: Lyssacinosida, Rossellidae): A Species and a Species Flock in the Southern Ocean. Polar Biology 40(12): 2435-2444

  • Voolstra, Christian R., Giga Community of, Gert Wörheide, and Jose V. Lopez. 2017. Advancing Genomics through the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA). Invertebrate Systematics 31 (1): 1–7.

2016

  • Ament-Velásquez, Sandra L., Odalisca Breedy, Jorge Cortés, Hector M. Guzman, Gert Wörheide, and Sergio Vargas. 2016. Homoplasious Colony Morphology and Mito-Nuclear Phylogenetic Discordance among Eastern Pacific Octocorals. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 98: 373–81.

  • Francis, Warren R., Michael Eitel, Sergio Vargas, Stefan Krebs, Helmut Blum, and Gert Wörheide. 2016. Mitochondrial Genomes of the Freshwater Sponges Spongilla lacustris and Ephydatia Cf. muelleri. Mitochondrial DNA Part B 1 (1): 250–51.

  • Shimpi, Gaurav G., Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2016. Evaluation and Validation of Reference Genes for qPCR Analysis to Study Climate Change-Induced Stresses in Sinularia cf. cruciata (Octocorallia: Alcyonidae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 483: 42–52.

  • Tusso, Sergio, Kerstin Morcinek, Catherine Vogler, Peter J. Schupp, Ciemon F. Caballes, Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2016. “Genetic Structure of the Crown-of-Thorns Seastar in the Pacific Ocean, with Focus on Guam. PeerJ 4: e1970.

2015

  • Bryce, Monika, Angelo Poliseno, Philip Alderslade, and Sergio Vargas. 2015. Digitate and Capitate Soft Corals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Alcyoniidae) from Western Australia with Reports on New Species and New Australian Geographical Records. Zootaxa 3963 (2): 160–200.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Michelle Kelly, Kareen Schnabel, Sadie Mills, David Bowden, and Gert Wörheide. 2015. Diversity in a Cold Hot-Spot: DNA-Barcoding Reveals Patterns of Evolution among Antarctic Demosponges (Class Demospongiae, Phylum Porifera). PloS One 10(6): e0127573.

2014

  • Vargas, Sergio, Hector M. Guzman, Odalisca Breedy, and Gert Wörheide. 2014. Molecular Phylogeny and DNA Barcoding of Tropical Eastern Pacific Shallow-Water Gorgonian Octocorals. Marine Biology 161 (5): 1027–38.

2013

  • Dohrmann, Martin, Sergio Vargas, Dorte Janussen, Allen G. Collins, and Gert Wörheide. 2013. Molecular Paleobiology of Early-Branching Animals: Integrating DNA and Fossils Elucidates the Evolutionary History of Hexactinellid Sponges. Paleobiology 39 (1): 95–108.

  • Szitenberg, Amir, Leontine E. Becking, Sergio Vargas, Júlio C. C. Fernandez, Nadiezhda Santodomingo, Gert Wörheide, Micha Ilan, Michelle Kelly, and Dorothée Huchon. 2013. Phylogeny of Tetillidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Spirophorida) Based on Three Molecular Markers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 67 (2): 509–19.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Dirk Erpenbeck, Christian Göcke, Kathryn A. Hall, John N. A. Hooper, Dorte Janussen, and Gert Wörheide. 2013. Molecular Phylogeny of Abyssocladia (Cladorhizidae: Poecilosclerida) and Phelloderma (Phellodermidae: Poecilosclerida) Suggests a Diversification of Chelae Microscleres in Cladorhizid Sponges. Zoologica Scripta 42 (1): 106–16.

2012

  • Breedy, Odalisca, Leen P. van Ofwegen, and Sergio Vargas. 2012. A New Family of Soft Corals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) from the Aphotic Tropical Eastern Pacific Waters Revealed by Integrative Taxonomy. Systematics and Biodiversity 10 (3): 351–59.

  • Erpenbeck, Dirk, Kathryn Hall, Belinda Alvarez, Gabriele Büttner, Katharina Sacher, Simone Schätzle, Astrid Schuster, Sergio Vargas, John N. A. Hooper, and Gert Wörheide. 2012. The Phylogeny of Halichondrid Demosponges: Past and Present Re-Visited with DNA-Barcoding Data. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 12 (1): 57–70.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Astrid Schuster, Katharina Sacher, Gabrielle Büttner, Simone Schätzle, Benjamin Läuchli, Kathryn Hall, John N. A. Hooper, Dirk Erpenbeck, and Gert Wörheide. 2012. Barcoding Sponges: An Overview Based on Comprehensive Sampling. PloS One 7 (7): e39345.

2011

  • Wörheide, Gert, Sergio Vargas, Carsten Lüter, and Joachim Reitner. 2011. Precious Coral and Rock Sponge Gardens on the Deep Aphotic Fore-Reef of Osprey Reef (Coral Sea, Australia). Coral Reefs 30 (4): 901.

2010

  • Vargas, Sergio, Odalisca Breedy, Francisco Siles, and Hector M. Guzman. 2010. “How Many Kinds of Sclerite? Towards a Morphometric Classification of Gorgoniid Microskeletal Components. Micron 41 (2): 158–64.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Michael Eitel, Odalisca Breedy, and Bernd Schierwater. 2010. Molecules Match Morphology: Mitochondrial DNA Supports Bayer’s Lytreia – Bebryce – Heterogorgia (Alcyonacea : Octocorallia) Clade Hypothesis. Invertebrate Systematics 24 (1): 23.

  • Vargas, Sergio, Odalisca Breedy, Hector M. Guzman. 2010. The Phylogeny of Pacifigorgia (Coelenterata, Octocorallia, Gorgoniidae): A Case Study of the Use of Continuous Characters in the Systematics of the Octocorallia. Zoosystema 32(1): 5-18

2009

  • Breedy, Odalisca, Hector M. Guzman, and Sergio Vargas. 2009. A Revision of the Genus Eugorgia Verrill, 1868 (Coelenterata: Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae). Zootaxa 2151: 1–46.

2008

  • Vargas, Sergio, Hector M. Guzman, and Odalisca Breedy. 2008. Distribution Patterns of the Genus Pacifigorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae): Track Compatibility Analysis and Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity. Journal of Biogeography 35 (2): 241-247.

Preprints

  • Poliseno, Angelo, Odalisca Breedy, Hector M. Guzman, and Sergio Vargas. 2021. Hybridization and Cryptic Speciation in the Tropical Eastern Pacific Octocoral Genus Pacifigorgia. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.29.442007.

  • Shimpi, Gaurav G., Sergio Vargas, and Gert Wörheide. 2017. Exploring the Mitochondrial Response to Oxidative DNA Damage in Octocorals. e2770v1. PeerJ Preprints. https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2770v1.

  • Francis, Warren R., Michael Eitel, Sergio Vargas, Marcin Adamski, Steven HD Haddock, Stefan Krebs, Helmut Blum, Dirk Erpenbeck, Gert Wörheide. 2017. The Genome Of The Contractile Demosponge Tethya wilhelma And The Evolution Of Metazoan Neural Signalling Pathways. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/120998

  • Poliseno, Angelo, Odalisca Breedy, Michael Eitel, Gert Wörheide, Hector M. Guzman, Stefan Krebs, Helmuth Blum, and Sergio Vargas. 2016. Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Muricea Crassa and Muricea purpurea (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the Eastern Tropical Pacific. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/042945