Dave Duvernell's Home Page

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Contact Information

Courses Taught

Biol 111 - Contemporary Biology

Biol 220 - Genetics

Biol 327 - Evolutionary Biology

Biol 452/552 - Molecular Genetics

Biol 422 - Population Genetics

Biol 497 - Senior Assignment

Research Interests

My research interests are in population genetics and genome evolution and the focus of research activities in my lab is divided between two research programs. The first program involves studies of the population genetics and evolutionary histories of several fish species with a focus on ecological adaptation and speciation. The second area of research involves the evolution of the L1 family of retrotransposable elements in vertebrate genomes with a particular focus on teleost fish genomes.

Phylogeography, Ecology and Reproductive Isolation among Topminnow Species in the Fundulus notatus Complex -

This integrative research program, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Southern Mississippi, will investigate the relationships among historical phylogeography, ecological affinities, resource competition and reproductive isolation in explaining the unique distribution and diversity of killifishes that make up the Fundulus notatus species complex. This group of stream dwelling fishes represents an ideal system to investigate fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, population genetics and ecology. The complex includes at least three (and probably more) evolutionarily distinct species that exhibit similar ecological requirements and broadly overlapping geographic ranges that encompass a variety of biotic zones. Numerous vicariance events in isolated drainages have acted over time to set up natural, replicated “experiments” in which numerous contact zones allow species interactions to be observed and quantified in nature. Additionally, members of this group are readily transferred to common garden settings in the lab, providing an ideal study organism for the construction of controlled mesocosm and mate choice experiments. We believe this research program will advance our understanding of ecological diversification, speciation, species interactions and hybrid zone dynamics.

Publications:

Vigueira, P., J.F. Schaefer, D.D. Duvernell and B.R. Kreiser. 2007. Tests of reproductive isolation among species in the Fundulus notatus (Cyprinodontiformes: Fundulidae) species complex. Evolutionary Ecology, In Press.

Duvernell, D.D., Schaefer, J.A., Hancks, D.C., Fonoti, J.A., and Ravanelli, A.M. 2007. Hybridization and reproductive isolation among syntopic populations of the topminnows Fundulus notatus and F. olivaceus. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 20:152-164.

Population Genetics of the Killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus - Beginning in 2002 I have been involved in a multi-institutional research program to study the relationship between genome-wide patterns of gene expression and the landscape ecology of the fish Fundulus heteroclitus. The role of my lab in this project is to study the population dynamics of F. heteroclitus throughout its range along the Atlantic coast using hypervariable microsatellite markers. These data will be used to assess the influences of historical and contemporary processes on the distribution of genetic variation in these populations. This work will address the influences of habitat size and landscape complexity on population size and migration rates in natural populations, and will also provide a null model on which to investigate variation in gene expression across populations.

Publications:

Adams, S.M., Lindmeier, J.B., and Duvernell, D.D. 2006. Microsatellite analysis of the phylogeography, pleistocene history and secondary contact hypotheses for the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. Molecular Ecology 15:1109-1123.

Adams, S.M., Oleksiak, M.F.,  and Duvernell, D.D. 2005. A Set of Microsatellite Primers for the Atlantic Coastal Killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus, with applicability to related Fundulus species. Molecular Ecology Notes. 5:275-277.

Retrotransposable Elements in Fish Genomes - Several graduate and undergraduate students in my lab are currently engaged in molecular studies of the evolutionary dynamics of the L1sw retrotransposable element family in fish genomes. Retrotransposable elements are "selfish DNA" sequences that are capable of directing their own replication within genomes. They are related to the retroviruses and encode some of the same enzymes (most notably the reverse transcriptase enzyme). Retrotransposable elements are ubiquitous in all eukaryotic genomes and are an important source of new mutations. Those mutations are often deleterious, and when they occur, may lead to genetic diseases. By studying the population genetics and molecular evolution of retrotransposable elements we can learn more about the interactions between the elements and genomes within which they are found, and gain insight into the reasons why they have persisted over evolutionary time. The L1sw family is evolutionarily most closely related to the L1  family found in mammalian genomes. The L1 family is the most prominent family of retrotransposable elements in mammals representing about 15-20% of the mammalian genome. Several interesting contrasts exist between the L1sw and L1 families, and we are exploring the nature of these differences in order to gain insight into the evolution of these respective element families.

Publications:

Ichiyanagi, K., Nishihara, H., Duvernell, D.D., and Okada, N. Acquisition of endonuclease specificity during evolution of L1 retrotransposon. Molecular Biology and Evolution, In Press.

Duvernell, D.D., Pryor, S.R., and Adams, S.M. 2004. Teleost fish genomes contain a diverse array of L1 retrotransposon lineages that exhibit a low copy number and high rate of turnover. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 59:298-308.

Furano, A.V., D.D. Duvernell and S. Boissinot. 2004. L1 (LINE-1) retrotransposon diversity differs dramatically between mammals and fish. Trends in Genetics, 20(1):9-14.

Duvernell, D.D. and B.J. Turner. 1999. Variation and divergence of Death Valley pupfish populations at retrotransposon-defined loci. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16:363-371.

Duvernell, D.D. and B.J. Turner. 1998. Swimmer 1, a new low-copy-number LINE family in teleost genomes with sequence similarity to mammalian L1. Mol. Biol. Evol. 15:1791-1793.

 

Other Publications

Flowers, J.M., E. Sezgin, S. Kumagai, D.D. Duvernell, L.M. Matzkin, P.S. Schmidt and W.F. Eanes. 2007. Adaptive evolution of metabolic pathways in Drosophila. Mol. Biol. Evol. 24:1347-1354.

Merritt, T.J.S., D.D. Duvernell, and W.F. Eanes. 2005. Natural and Synthetic Alleles Provide Complementary Insights Into the Nature of Selection Acting on the Men Polymorphism of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics, 171: 1707-1718.

Sezgin, E., D.D. Duvernell, L.M. Matzkin, Y. Duan, C.-T. Zhu, B.C. Verrelli and W.F. Eanes. 2004. Single locus latitudinal clines in metabolic genes, derived alleles, and their relationship to temperate adaptation in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics, 168(2):923-931.

Duvernell, D.D., P.S. Schmidt and W.F. Eanes. 2003. Clines and adaptive evolution in the methuselah gene region in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol. Ecol. 12:1277-1285.

Duvernell, D.D. and W.F. Eanes. 2000. Contrasting molecular population genetics of four hexokinases in Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, and Drosophila yakuba. Genetics. 156:1191-1201.

Schmidt, P.S., D.D. Duvernell and W.F. Eanes. 2000. Adaptive evolution of a candidate gene for aging in Drosophila. PNAS. 97:10861-10865.

Duvernell, D.D. and B.J. Turner. 1998. Evolutionary genetics of Death Valley pupfish populations: mitochondrial DNA sequence variation and population structure. Molecular Ecology, 7:279-288.

Duvernell, D.D. and N. Aspinwall. 1995. Introgression of Luxilus cornutus mtDNA into allopatric populations of Luxilus chrysocephalus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in Missouri and Arkansas. Molecular Ecology. 4:173-181.

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Last updated June  2007