Research in the lab employs molecular and bioinformatic tools to study evolutionary processes at the level of populations, both experimental and natural, and genomes. Our research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including the evolution of organellar and nuclear genomes, gene duplication and the origin of novel function, and the fitness and phenotypic consequences of mutation in evolution.
THE LATEST..............
April 2013
Vaishali’s paper published on March 27th 2013 in BMC Evolutionary Biology reports three predictors that significantly contribute to asymmetric sequence divergence between young Caenorhabditis elegans paralogs.
Paralogs diverge asymmetrically in sequence with (i) increasing evolutionary age, (ii) the relocation of one copy to a different chromosome and (iii) attenuated duplication spans that possibly fail to capture the entire repertoire of ancestral coding sequence and regulatory elements.
Cumulatively, the derived copies within gene duplicate pairs tend to exhibit accelerated rates of sequence divergence, suggesting that they are primed for a divergent evolutionary trajectory at inception, via changes in gene structure and/or genomic context. This contradicts Ohno’s assumption of equivalency of paralogs following gene duplication. (Abstract)
January 2013
A warm welcome to Amber Trujillo and Julie Moser who have joined us as undergraduate research assistants this spring semester.
December 2012
A warm welcome to Anke Konrad who will be joining us as a postdoctoral research associate in 2013 from the lab of David Liberles at the University of Wyoming.
October 2012
Science/AAAS highlighted Vaishali’s review paper on the promiscuity of the gene duplication process in the September issue of International Journal of Evolutionary Biology:
September 2012
Vaishali’s review paper on the mechanistic diversity of the gene duplication process just got published in a special issue of the International Journal of Evolutionary Biology, titled Molecular Evolutionary Routes that Lead to Innovations.
August 2012
Lucille Packard has joined the lab as a Master’s student. Welcome again, Lucy!!!
