Cheng-Ruei Lee, Biology grad student
Email Address: chengruei.lee@duke.edu
Specialties:
Evolution
Genomics
Ecology and Population Biology
Research Categories: Species and gene evolution
Current projects: Reading, learning, and discussing a lot
Research Description: "Why are there so many different ... ?" My major research interest is speciation, in which people try to explain why there are so many different species. The split of one species into two finally reproductive-isolated ones starts from population differentiation, and differential local adaptation would be my major emphasis in understanding the mechanism of population differentiation. Theoretical inferences had predicted that, although continuous migration among populations would prevent the divergence of selectively-neutral genomic regions, loci responsible for differential local adaptation would still have low levels of introgression due to selection against non-locally-adaptive foreign alleles. Several researches had indeed observed different levels of segregation across the whole genome. However, few had tried to link these highly-segregating regions to differential local adaptation. Using Boechera stricta, a close relative of Arabidopsis taliana with several genetic tools ready, I will try to address this question ... in the future. The other research interest is about why there are so many different phenotypes among species. My previous work about this issue was on one particular gene of the 12 Drosophila species with available genome sequences. By finding out mechanisms of multiple gene duplication events, testing for positive selection on specific amino acid sites, and identifying the diverse gene expression patterns, we try to link these complex events with this polymorphic phenotype among different species and genders in Drosophila. (Paper in preparation.) Currently, I am still searching for suitable model in this direction for my graduate study.
Areas of Interest:
Speciation - differential local adaptation; introgression
Gene evolution - gene duplication; positive selection; gene expression
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