Jan Engelstädter

Associate Professor

I am an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in microbial evolution, currently focusing on antibiotic resistance evolution and gene exchange in bacteria. I did my PhD with Greg Hurst at University College London, working on the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia. After postdoctoral positions at Harvard University (with David Haig) and ETH Zurich (with Sebastian Bonhoeffer) and a junior group leader position at ETH Zurich, I moved to Australia to start my current position at The University of Queensland, where I am now an Associate Professor. I was an ARC Future Fellow from 2015 to 2019.

In addition to research, I teach into several courses at UQ:

BIOL3303: Genomics
SCIE3360: Data Science for Life and Environmental Scientists
BIOL3222: Model Organism Genetics

I was Director of the Master of Quantitative Biology program at UQ (now discontinued). I was previously an Associate Editor for Evolution and Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and I’m currently a Data Editor for Proceedings B.

Metabolic switching promotes microbial coexistence under fluctuating resources

Yu-Pei Tseng, Jan Engelstädter, Andrew D. Letten

bioRxiv (2026)

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Mutations associated with streptomycin resistance predicted to be highly prevalent and evolvable across bacteria

Le Na Ngo, Andrew D. Letten, Jan Engelstädter

bioRxiv (2026)

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Growth-density inversion in Escherichia coli reveals superlinear, not sublinear, density dependence

James A. Orr, Kaleigh E. Davis, Alicia H. Williams, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel B. Stouffer, Andrew D. Letten

PLOS Biology, 24, e3003898 (2026)

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Conspecific Gamete Precedence in Speciation: History, Evidence, and a Research Roadmap

Henry Arenas-Castro, Jan Engelstädter, Rhonda Snook, Loren Rieseberg, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

EcoEvoRxiv (2026)

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Dynamics of virus infection in a Wolbachia-infected host

Angelique K. Asselin, Jan Engelstädter, Karyn N. Johnson

Virology, 615, 110759 (2026)

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Shifting resource limitation explains multiphasic patterns of density dependence

Andrew D. Letten, James A. Orr, Jan Engelstädter, Noelle A. Held, Christopher Klausmeier, Michael Manhart, Daniel B. Stouffer

bioRxiv (2026)

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Drug mode of action and resource constraints modulate antimicrobial resistance evolution

Oscar Delaney, Christopher R. P. Brown, Andrew D. Letten, Jan Engelstädter

Journal of Theoretical Biology, 618, 112316 (2026)

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The genetic architecture of polygenic adaptation under a network-derived trait

Nicholas L. V. O’Brien, Barbara Holland, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

bioRxiv (2025)

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Strong genotype-by-genotype and genotype-by-environment interactions induced by antibiotic resistance mutations

Alicia H. Williams, Ian Gooi, Madelaine Boggan, Ziqing Liu, Andrew D. Letten, Jan Engelstädter

bioRxiv (2025)

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A unifying principle for multispecies coexistence under resource fluctuations

James A. Richardson, Jan Engelstädter, Andrew D. Letten

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122, e2424996122 (2025)

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Optimal antimicrobial dosing combinations when drug-resistance mutation rates differ

Oscar Delaney, Andrew D Letten, Jan Engelstädter

Evolution, 79, 1900--1910 (2025)

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Evolution and evolvability of rifampicin resistance across the bacterial tree of life

Negin Bolourchi, Christopher R. P. Brown, Andrew D. Letten, Jan Engelstädter

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122, e2424307122 (2025)

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Ecological and Mutation-Order Speciation in Senecio

Maddie E. James, Maria C. Melo, Federico Roda, Diana Bernal-Franco, Melanie J. Wilkinson, Gregory M. Walter, Huanle Liu, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Molecular Ecology, 34, e70090 (2025)

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Chimeric Reference Panels for Genomic Imputation

Meikun Zhou, Maddie E. James, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Genetics, 232, iyaf212 (2025)

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Antidepressant drugs promote the spread of broad-host-range plasmid in mouse and human gut microbiota

Pengbo Ding, Ji Lu, Tong Lei, Yinan Guo, Baoli Zhu, Yong Zhao, Yue Wang, Jan Engelstädter, Mark A. Schembri, Jianhua Guo

Gut Microbes, 17, 2514138 (2025)

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Belt and braces: Two escape ways to maintain the cassette reservoir of large chromosomal integrons

Egill Richard, Baptiste Darracq, Eloi Littner, Gael A. Millot, Valentin Conte, Thomas Cokelaer, Jan Engelstädter, Eduardo P. C. Rocha, Didier Mazel, Céline Loot

PLOS Genetics, 20, e1011231 (2024)

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The distribution of fitness effects during adaptive walks using a simple genetic network

Nicholas L. V. O'Brien, Barbara Holland, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

PLOS Genetics, 20, e1011289 (2024)

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Frequent, infinitesimal bottlenecks maximize the rate of microbial adaptation

Oscar Delaney, Andrew D Letten, Jan Engelstädter

Genetics, 225, iyad185 (2023)

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Antidepressants can induce mutation and enhance persistence toward multiple antibiotics

Yue Wang, Zhigang Yu, Pengbo Ding, Ji Lu, Likai Mao, Lyman Ngiam, Zhiguo Yuan, Jan Engelstädter, Mark A. Schembri, Jianhua Guo

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120, e2208344120 (2023)

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Host phylogeny and ecological associations best explain Wolbachia host shifts in scale insects

Ehsan Sanaei, Gregory F. Albery, Yun Kit Yeoh, Yen-Po Lin, Lyn G. Cook, Jan Engelstädter

Molecular Ecology, 32, 2351--2363 (2023)

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Correction: Non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals enhance the transmission of exogenous antibiotic resistance genes through bacterial transformation

Yue Wang, Ji Lu, Jan Engelstädter, Shuai Zhang, Pengbo Ding, Likai Mao, Zhiguo Yuan, Philip L. Bond, Jianhua Guo

The ISME Journal, 16, 612 (2022)

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Wolbachia in scale insects: a distinct pattern of infection frequencies and potential transfer routes via ant associates

Ehsan Sanaei, Yen-Po Lin, Lyn G. Cook, Jan Engelstädter

Environmental Microbiology, 24, 1326--1339 (2022)

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Cytoplasmic incompatibility in hybrid zones: infection dynamics and resistance evolution

Erik Sandertun Røed, Jan Engelstädter

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 35, 240--253 (2022)

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The Evolution of a Specialized, Highly Virulent Fish Pathogen through Gene Loss and Acquisition of Host-Specific Survival Mechanisms

Laura Baseggio, Oleksandra Rudenko, Jan Engelstädter, Andrew C. Barnes

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 88, e0022222 (2022)

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Genetic slippage after sex maintains diversity for parasite resistance in a natural host population

Camille Ameline, Felix Voegtli, Jason Andras, Eric Dexter, Jan Engelstädter, Dieter Ebert

Science Advances, 8, eabn0051 (2022)

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The Molecular Clock as a Tool for Understanding Host-Parasite Evolution

Rachel C. M. Warnock, Jan Engelstädter

The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism (Topics in Geobiology), 417--450 (2021)

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Complete, closed and curated genome sequences of Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida isolates from Australia indicate mobilome-driven localized evolution and novel pathogenicity determinants

Laura Baseggio, Oleksandra Rudenko, Nicky Buller, Matt Landos, Jan Engelstädter, Andrew C. Barnes

Microbial Genomics, 7 (2021)

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Wolbachia host shifts: routes, mechanisms, constraints and evolutionary consequences

Ehsan Sanaei, Sylvain Charlat, Jan Engelstädter

Biological Reviews, 96, 433--453 (2021)

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A Two-Locus System with Strong Epistasis Underlies Rapid Parasite-Mediated Evolution of Host Resistance

Camille Ameline, Yann Bourgeois, Felix Vögtli, Eevi Savola, Jason Andras, Jan Engelstädter, Dieter Ebert

Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38, 1512--1528 (2021)

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Highly Replicated Evolution of Parapatric Ecotypes

Maddie E. James, Henry Arenas-Castro, Jeffrey S. Groh, Scott L. Allen, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38, 4805--4821 (2021)

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Phenotypic and genotypic parallel evolution in parapatric ecotypes of Senecio

Maddie E. James, Melanie J. Wilkinson, Diana M. Bernal, Huanle Liu, Henry L. North, Jan Engelstädter, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Evolution, 75, 3115--3131 (2021)

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Non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals enhance the transmission of exogenous antibiotic resistance genes through bacterial transformation

Yue Wang, Ji Lu, Jan Engelstädter, Shuai Zhang, Pengbo Ding, Likai Mao, Zhiguo Yuan, Philip L. Bond, Jianhua Guo

The ISME Journal, 14, 2179--2196 (2020)

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Evolutionary epidemiology of Streptococcus iniae: Linking mutation rate dynamics with adaptation to novel immunological landscapes

Oleksandra Rudenko, Jan Engelstädter, Andrew C. Barnes

Infection, Genetics and Evolution: Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases, 85, 104435 (2020)

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Strikingly high levels of heterozygosity despite 20 years of inbreeding in a clonal honey bee

Nicholas M. A. Smith, Claire Wade, Michael H. Allsopp, Brock A. Harpur, Amro Zayed, Stephen A. Rose, Jan Engelstädter, Nadine C. Chapman, Boris Yagound, Benjamin P. Oldroyd

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 32, 144--152 (2019)

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The dynamics of preferential host switching: Host phylogeny as a key predictor of parasite distribution

Jan Engelstädter, Nicole Z. Fortuna

Evolution, 73, 1330--1340 (2019)

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Science policies: How should science funding be allocated? An evolutionary biologists' perspective

Stephanie Meirmans, Roger K. Butlin, Anne Charmantier, Jan Engelstädter, Astrid T. Groot, Kayla C. King, Hanna Kokko, Jane M. Reid, Maurine Neiman

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 32, 754--768 (2019)

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Asexual but Not Clonal: Evolutionary Processes in Automictic Populations

Jan Engelstädter

Genetics, 206, 993--1009 (2017)

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Reversing resistance: different routes and common themes across pathogens

Richard C. Allen, Jan Engelstädter, Sebastian Bonhoeffer, Bruce A. McDonald, Alex R. Hall

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 284, 20171619 (2017)

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Recombination Rate Evolution and the Origin of Species

Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Jan Engelstädter, Loren H. Rieseberg

Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31, 226--236 (2016)

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The evolutionary dynamics of integrons in changing environments

Jan Engelstädter, Klaus Harms, Pål J. Johnsen

The ISME Journal, 10, 1296--1307 (2016)

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Steady at the wheel: conservative sex and the benefits of bacterial transformation

Ole Herman Ambur, Jan Engelstädter, Pål J. Johnsen, Eric L. Miller, Daniel E. Rozen

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 371, 20150528 (2016)

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Evolutionary mysteries in meiosis

Thomas Lenormand, Jan Engelstädter, Susan E. Johnston, Erik Wijnker, Christoph R. Haag

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 371, 20160001 (2016)

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The evolution of recombination rates in finite populations during ecological speciation

James Reeve, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Jan Engelstädter

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 283, 20161243 (2016)

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Host-parasite coevolutionary dynamics with generalized success/failure infection genetics

Jan Engelstädter

The American Naturalist, 185, E117--129 (2015)

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Classic reaction kinetics can explain complex patterns of antibiotic action

Pia Abel Zur Wiesch, Sören Abel, Spyridon Gkotzis, Paolo Ocampo, Jan Engelstädter, Trevor Hinkley, Carsten Magnus, Matthew K. Waldor, Klas Udekwu, Ted Cohen

Science Translational Medicine, 7, 287ra73 (2015)

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Fitness landscapes emerging from pharmacodynamic functions in the evolution of multidrug resistance

Jan Engelstädter

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27, 840--853 (2014)

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The evolution of X chromosome inactivation in mammals: the demise of Ohno's hypothesis?

Eugénie Pessia, Jan Engelstädter, Gabriel A. B. Marais

Cellular and molecular life sciences: CMLS, 71, 1383--1394 (2014)

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Adaptation through genetic time travel? Fluctuating selection can drive the evolution of bacterial transformation

Jan Engelstädter, Danesh Moradigaravand

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 281, 20132609 (2014)

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The impact of natural transformation on adaptation in spatially structured bacterial populations

Danesh Moradigaravand, Jan Engelstädter

BMC evolutionary biology, 14, 141 (2014)

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Recombination accelerates adaptation on a large-scale empirical fitness landscape in HIV-1

Danesh Moradigaravand, Roger Kouyos, Trevor Hinkley, Mojgan Haddad, Christos J. Petropoulos, Jan Engelstädter, Sebastian Bonhoeffer

PLOS Genetics, 10, e1004439 (2014)

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On the genetic architecture of cytoplasmic incompatibility: inference from phenotypic data

Igor Nor, Jan Engelstädter, Olivier Duron, Max Reuter, Marie-France Sagot, Sylvain Charlat

The American Naturalist, 182, E15--24 (2013)

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The evolution of natural competence: disentangling costs and benefits of sex in bacteria

Danesh Moradigaravand, Jan Engelstädter

The American Naturalist, 182, E112--126 (2013)

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Host–parasite coevolution induces selection for condition-dependent sex

R. Mostowy, Jan Engelstädter

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 25, 2033--2046 (2012)

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Mod/Resc Parsimony Inference: Theory and application

Igor Nor, Danny Hermelin, Sylvain Charlat, Jan Engelstädter, Max Reuter, Olivier Duron, Marie-France Sagot

Information and Computation, 213, 23--32 (2012)

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Non-genetic inheritance and the patterns of antagonistic coevolution

Rafal Mostowy, Jan Engelstädter, Marcel Salathé

BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12, 93 (2012)

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Pathogen evolution in switching environments: a hybrid dynamical system approach

József Z. Farkas, Peter Hinow, Jan Engelstädter

Mathematical Biosciences, 240, 70--75 (2012)

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On genetic specificity in symbiont-mediated host-parasite coevolution

Marek Kwiatkowski, Jan Engelstädter, Christoph Vorburger

PLOS Computational biology, 8, e1002633 (2012)

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The dynamics of mitochondrial mutations causing male infertility in spatially structured populations

Hui Zhang, Frédéric Guillaume, Jan Engelstädter

Evolution, 66, 3179--3188 (2012)

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The effect of bacterial recombination on adaptation on fitness landscapes with limited peak accessibility

Danesh Moradigaravand, Jan Engelstädter

PLOS Computational biology, 8, e1002735 (2012)

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Contagious parthenogenesis, automixis, and a sex determination meltdown

Jan Engelstädter, Christoph Sandrock, Christoph Vorburger

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 65, 501--511 (2011)

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The impact of environmental change on host-parasite coevolutionary dynamics

Rafal Mostowy, Jan Engelstädter

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 278, 2283--2292 (2011)

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Population biological principles of drug-resistance evolution in infectious diseases

Pia Abel zur Wiesch, Roger Kouyos, Jan Engelstädter, Roland R. Regoes, Sebastian Bonhoeffer

The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 11, 236--247 (2011)

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Hidden cytoplasmic incompatibility alters the dynamics of male-killer/host interactions

E. A. Hornett, Jan Engelstädter, G. D. D. Hurst

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23, 479--487 (2010)

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Compensation of fitness costs and reversibility of antibiotic resistance mutations

Pia Schulz zur Wiesch, Jan Engelstädter, Sebastian Bonhoeffer

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 54, 2085--2095 (2010)

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The effective size of populations infected with cytoplasmic sex-ratio distorters

Jan Engelstädter

Genetics, 186, 309--320 (2010)

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The Ecology and Evolution of Microbes that Manipulate Host Reproduction

Jan Engelstädter, Gregory D.D. Hurst

Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 40, 127--149 (2009)

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Cytoplasmic incompatibility and host population structure

Jan Engelstädter, A Telschow

Heredity, 103, 196--207 (2009)

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What use are male hosts? The dynamics of maternally inherited bacteria showing sexual transmission or male killing

Jan Engelstädter, Gregory D. D. Hurst

The American Naturalist, 173, E159--170 (2009)

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Red Queen dynamics with non-standard fitness interactions

Jan Engelstädter, Sebastian Bonhoeffer

PLoS computational biology, 5, e1000469 (2009)

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Coexistence of cytoplasmic incompatibility and male-killing-inducing endosymbionts, and their impact on host gene flow

Jan Engelstädter, Arndt Telschow, Norio Yamamura

Theoretical Population Biology, 73, 125--133 (2008)

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High incidence of the maternally inherited bacterium Cardinium in spiders

Olivier Duron, Gregory D. D. Hurst, Emily A. Hornett, James A. Josling, Jan Engelstädter

Molecular Ecology, 17, 1427--1437 (2008)

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A test of the null model for 5' UTR evolution based on GC content

Max Reuter, Jan Engelstädter, Pierre Fontanillas, Laurence D. Hurst

Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25, 801--804 (2008)

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Sexual antagonism and the evolution of X chromosome inactivation

Jan Engelstädter, David Haig

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 62, 2097--2104 (2008)

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The diversity of reproductive parasites among arthropods: Wolbachia do not walk alone

Olivier Duron, Didier Bouchon, Sébastien Boutin, Lawrence Bellamy, Liqin Zhou, Jan Engelstädter, Gregory D. Hurst

BMC biology, 6, 27 (2008)

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Muller's ratchet and the degeneration of Y chromosomes: a simulation study

Jan Engelstädter

Genetics, 180, 957--967 (2008)

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Constraints on the evolution of asexual reproduction

Jan Engelstädter

BioEssays: News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, 30, 1138--1150 (2008)

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The evolution of endosymbiont density in doubly infected host species

Jan Engelstädter, P. Hammerstein, G. D. D. Hurst

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 20, 685--695 (2007)

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The impact of male-killing bacteria on host evolutionary processes

Jan Engelstädter, Gregory D. D. Hurst

Genetics, 175, 245--254 (2007)

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The dynamics of parasite incidence across host species

Jan Engelstädter, Gregory D. D. Hurst

Evolutionary Ecology, 20, 603--616 (2006)

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Can maternally transmitted endosymbionts facilitate the evolution of haplodiploidy?

Jan Engelstädter, G. D. D. Hurst

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 19, 194--202 (2006)

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Asymmetric gene flow and constraints on adaptation caused by sex ratio distorters

A. Telschow, Jan Engelstädter, N. Yamamura, P. Hammerstein, G.D.D. Hurst

Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 19, 869--878 (2006)

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The evolution of cytoplasmic incompatibility types: integrating segregation, inbreeding and outbreeding

Jan Engelstädter, Sylvain Charlat, Andrew Pomiankowski, Gregory D. D. Hurst

Genetics, 172, 2601--2611 (2006)

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Outbreeding selects for spiteful cytoplasmic elements

Jan Engelstädter, Sylvain Charlat

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 273, 923--929 (2006)

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Competing selfish genetic elements in the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina

Sylvain Charlat, Jan Engelstädter, Emily A. Dyson, Emily A. Hornett, Anne Duplouy, Pablo Tortosa, Neil Davies, George K. Roderick, Nina Wedell, Gregory D. D. Hurst

Current biology, 16, 2453--2458 (2006)

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Infection dynamics of different Wolbachia-types within one host population

Jan Engelstädter, Arndt Telschow, Peter Hammerstein

Journal of Theoretical Biology, 231, 345--355 (2004)

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To what extent do different types of sex ratio distorters interfere?

Jan Engelstädter, Horácio Montenegro, Gregory D. D. Hurst

Evolution, 58, 2382--2386 (2004)

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