The group also study the adaptive differences between species - and in particular how different species have adapted to niche-defining toxins. They use comparative genomics to study millions of years of molecular evolution in detoxification genes, and are studying structure/function relationships in the proteins they encode. Microarrays are used to study the ability of natural toxins to induce the regulation of detoxification genes.

Much of the signature of adaptive evolution comes from patterns of DNA variation within and between species and to provide a baseline to these comparisons the Robin group have a project on pseudogenes. The group also study pseudogenes, as they are signatures of gene loss, a process that may play an under-appreciated role in the phenotypic divergence and adaptability of species.