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<h3>Who is Kevin Wright?</h3>
[[Image:photFace.jpg|thumb|right| wright@fas.harvard.edu ]]
I am a third year biology graduate student co-advised by Dr. Mark Rausher and Dr. John Willis. I am broadly interested in how genetic interactions affect the adaptation to novel environments. In collaboration with Mark Rausher I have developed numerous evolution models to determine how metabolic and developmental networks respond to natural selection. Metabolic pathways are highly interactive systems in which changes in upstream enzymes generate cascading effects throughout a system; this result implies that under directional selection beneficial mutations will be preferentially fixed in upstream enzymes because they will have the greatest effect on network flux. Developmental networks are conversely characterized by highly buffered interactions due to the relationship between transcription factors and their targets. This means that directional selection on a target enzyme will cause genetic changes in the target enzyme or in its immediate upstream interactor, because changes further upstream in the developmental network will have little downstream phenotypic effects.


In the laboratory of Dr. John Willis, I aim to test some of my theoretical interests in the Mimulus guttatus model system. Mimulus is currently being transformed into a model system for ecological genetic research because of the genomic tools currently being developed for the genus. These include a whole genome sequence by JGI, a EST collection of 200,000 transcripts, a physical map based on BAC library clones, and eventually Aligent microarrays. I aim to use these tools to investigate how M. guttatus has adapted to copper contaminated soil at an abandoned mining site in Copperopolis, CA. I am interested in understanding the genetic architecture of copper tolerance in this system and how it evolved. In particular, my collaborator David Lowry and I aim to clone the major copper tolerance locus identified by our collaborator Dr. Mark Macnair and QTL map the many modifying loci affecting copper tolerance. I want to understand how these loci interact to produce the copper tolerant phenotype. To this end, I will estimate the fitness effects of the major copper tolerance locus in a genetic background with and without additional modifier loci in a reciprocal transplant experiment using Near Isogenic Lines generated by backcrossing tolerant plants to nontolerant inbred lines. This experiment will provide insight into not only the genes affected by adaptation to this novel environment, but in how this adaptation was built via the contributions of multiple loci.
==Research Interests==
I completed my PhD at Duke University co-advised by Dr. Mark Rausher and Dr. John Willis. I am broadly interested in genetic architecture of adaptive traits.  My PhD thesis focused on the evolution of copper tolerance in ''Mimulus guttatus'' populations inhabiting mines in Copperopolis, CA. Previous research by [http://www.ex.ac.uk/~MRMacnai/welcome.html Mark Macnair]  has demonstrated that tolerance is conferred by a single locus. [[David Lowry]] and I are collaborating with Mark Macnair to map this tolerance locus. I have conducted full QTL analysis to map loci which modify the strength of copper tolerance. I am interested in determining how these loci interact and affect fitness on the copper mine.
 
My work in the Rausher Lab is focused on modeling the evolution of metabolic networks. I am interested in how natural selection on the products of these networks affects the genes comprising these networks. Metabolic pathways are highly interactive systems in which changes in upstream enzymes generate cascading effects throughout a system. Upstream enzymes have the greatest effect on the rate of flux through the pathway. Conversely, developmental networks are more buffered to perturbation because of the relationship between transcription factors and their target genes and the ubiquity of negative feedback loops. The genetic interactions in these networks affect how they respond to natural selection. In metabolic systems, adaptive genetic changes occur in upstream enzymes because downstream enzymes have little effect on metabolic flux. Genetic changes have more local effects in developmental networks, thus selection on a product of this network will result in changes in the genes directly generating that target.


==Field Site==
==Field Site==
[[Image:smelter.jpg|thumb|left|Central smelter at Copperopolis, Ca]]
[[Image:M_cupri2.jpg|thumb|right|Mimulus cupriphilis in Copperopolis, Ca]]
[[Image:Napoleon_Mine.jpg|thumb|center|Napoleon Mine]]




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperopolis,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperopolis,_California
==Publications==
• Hunter, B., Wright, K.M., Bomblies, K. Short read sequencing in studies of natural
variation and adaptation. Current Opinions in Plant Biology. In press.
• Strasburg, J., N. Sherman, K. M. Wright, L. Moyle, J. H. Willis, L. Rieseberg. (2012)
What can patterns of differentiation across plant genomes tell us about adaptation and
speciation? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 1587: 364-373.
• K.M. Wright and M.D. Rausher. (2010) The evolution of control and the distribution of
adaptive mutations in a metabolic pathway. Genetics. 184: 483-502.
• O'Keefe, K.J., O.K. Silander, H. McCreery, D.M. Weinreich, K.M. Wright, L. Chao, S.
Edwards, S. Remold, P.E. Turner. (2010) Geographic differences in sexual reassortment
in RNA phage. Evolution, 64: 3010-3023.
• Lowry, D.B., J.L. Modliszewski, K.M. Wright, C.A. Wu, J.H. Willis. (2008) The
strength and genetic basis of reproductive isolating barriers in flowering plants. Phil.
Trans. R. Soc. B. 363: 3009-3021.
• Wu, C.A., D.B. Lowry, A.M. Cooley, K.M. Wright, Y.W. Lee, and J.H. Willis. (2008)
Mimulus is an emerging model system for the integration of ecological and genomic
studies. Heredity. 100: 220-230.
• Kandul, N.P., K.M. Wright, E.V. Kandul, and M.A.F. Noor. (2006) No evidence for
learned mating discrimination in male Drosophila pseudoobscura. BMC Evol. Biol., 6:
54-58.
• Silander, O.K., D.M. Weinreich, K.M. Wright, K.J. O'Keefe, C.U. Rang, P.E. Turner,
and L. Chao (2005) Widespread genetic exchange among terrestrial bacteriophages.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 102:19009 - 19014.
==Education==
PhD. Duke University. 2010.
BS. Ecology, Behavior and Evolution. University of Califonnia, San Diego.  2003.
==Contact Information==
wright@fas.harvard.edu
==Source Code ==
Source code for hitchhiking simulations discussed in Wright, K.M., D. Lloyd, D.B. Lowry, M.R. Macnair, J.H. Willis. Indirect evolution of hybrid lethality due to linkage with selected locus in Mimulus guttatus. PLoS Biology.
[[Media:hitchhiking_model.c]]

Latest revision as of 09:11, 10 December 2012

wright@fas.harvard.edu

Research Interests

I completed my PhD at Duke University co-advised by Dr. Mark Rausher and Dr. John Willis. I am broadly interested in genetic architecture of adaptive traits. My PhD thesis focused on the evolution of copper tolerance in Mimulus guttatus populations inhabiting mines in Copperopolis, CA. Previous research by Mark Macnair has demonstrated that tolerance is conferred by a single locus. David Lowry and I are collaborating with Mark Macnair to map this tolerance locus. I have conducted full QTL analysis to map loci which modify the strength of copper tolerance. I am interested in determining how these loci interact and affect fitness on the copper mine.

My work in the Rausher Lab is focused on modeling the evolution of metabolic networks. I am interested in how natural selection on the products of these networks affects the genes comprising these networks. Metabolic pathways are highly interactive systems in which changes in upstream enzymes generate cascading effects throughout a system. Upstream enzymes have the greatest effect on the rate of flux through the pathway. Conversely, developmental networks are more buffered to perturbation because of the relationship between transcription factors and their target genes and the ubiquity of negative feedback loops. The genetic interactions in these networks affect how they respond to natural selection. In metabolic systems, adaptive genetic changes occur in upstream enzymes because downstream enzymes have little effect on metabolic flux. Genetic changes have more local effects in developmental networks, thus selection on a product of this network will result in changes in the genes directly generating that target.

Field Site

Central smelter at Copperopolis, Ca
Mimulus cupriphilis in Copperopolis, Ca
Napoleon Mine


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperopolis,_California

Publications

• Hunter, B., Wright, K.M., Bomblies, K. Short read sequencing in studies of natural variation and adaptation. Current Opinions in Plant Biology. In press. • Strasburg, J., N. Sherman, K. M. Wright, L. Moyle, J. H. Willis, L. Rieseberg. (2012) What can patterns of differentiation across plant genomes tell us about adaptation and speciation? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 1587: 364-373. • K.M. Wright and M.D. Rausher. (2010) The evolution of control and the distribution of adaptive mutations in a metabolic pathway. Genetics. 184: 483-502. • O'Keefe, K.J., O.K. Silander, H. McCreery, D.M. Weinreich, K.M. Wright, L. Chao, S. Edwards, S. Remold, P.E. Turner. (2010) Geographic differences in sexual reassortment in RNA phage. Evolution, 64: 3010-3023. • Lowry, D.B., J.L. Modliszewski, K.M. Wright, C.A. Wu, J.H. Willis. (2008) The strength and genetic basis of reproductive isolating barriers in flowering plants. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 363: 3009-3021. • Wu, C.A., D.B. Lowry, A.M. Cooley, K.M. Wright, Y.W. Lee, and J.H. Willis. (2008) Mimulus is an emerging model system for the integration of ecological and genomic studies. Heredity. 100: 220-230. • Kandul, N.P., K.M. Wright, E.V. Kandul, and M.A.F. Noor. (2006) No evidence for learned mating discrimination in male Drosophila pseudoobscura. BMC Evol. Biol., 6: 54-58. • Silander, O.K., D.M. Weinreich, K.M. Wright, K.J. O'Keefe, C.U. Rang, P.E. Turner, and L. Chao (2005) Widespread genetic exchange among terrestrial bacteriophages. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 102:19009 - 19014.

Education

PhD. Duke University. 2010.

BS. Ecology, Behavior and Evolution. University of Califonnia, San Diego. 2003.

Contact Information

wright@fas.harvard.edu

Source Code

Source code for hitchhiking simulations discussed in Wright, K.M., D. Lloyd, D.B. Lowry, M.R. Macnair, J.H. Willis. Indirect evolution of hybrid lethality due to linkage with selected locus in Mimulus guttatus. PLoS Biology. Media:hitchhiking_model.c

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