David Lowry
About Me
I am a new postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin working on the genetics of adaptation and drought tolerance with the Texas Switchgrass Collaborative (Panicum). The aims of this project are to understand the evolutionary genetic and genomic mechanisms responsible for abiotic stress tolerance in this group of grasses and to leverage this knowledge to eventually create higher yielding bioenergy crops that will require minimal water inputs. This is an important goal, as there is often a trade-off between alternative energy sources, such as biofuels, with ever diminishing water resources.
The focus of my PhD dissertation research at Duke University was directed toward understanding the genetics of adaptation and speciation across the natural landscape. To this end, I chose to study how divergent adaptation of the yellow monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus), to the coast versus inland habitat, contributes to reproductive isolation. I used a combination of QTL mapping and candidate gene strategies to determine the genetic mechanisms that underlie the divergence of morphological and life-history traits between coast and inland Mimulus guttatus. Further, I carried out reciprocal transplant experiments and population genetic analysis to demonstrate that coast and inland Mimulus are locally adapted and reproductively isolated. I also conducted a more recent reciprocal transplant experiment with near isogenic lines to test hypotheses of local adaptation and introgression between ecogeographic races. In addition, I conducted genetic analysis of flowering time under different light conditions, anthocyanin production in vegetative tissues, and ion accumulation. Finally, I was involved with multiple aspects of the Mimulus guttatus genome project.
Publications
Lowry, D. B. Ecotypes and the controversy over stages in the formation of new species. (2012) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Accepted
Lowry, D. B., C. T. Purmal, E. Meyer, T. E. Juenger. (2012) Microsatellite markers for the native Texas perennial grass, Panicum hallii (Poaceae). In press
Lowry, D. B., C. S. Sheng, Z. Zhu, T. E. Juenger, B. Lahner, D. E. Salt, J. H. Willis. (2012) Mapping of ionomic traits in Mimulus guttatus reveals Mo and Cd QTLs that colocalize with MOT1 homologues. PLoS One. Accepted
Lowry D. B., C.S. Sheng, J. R. Lasky, J.H. Willis. (2012) Five anthocyanin polymorphisms are associated with a R2R3-MYB cluster in Mimulus guttatus. American Journal of Botany. In press
Lowry, D. B., R. Hopkins. (2012) “Speciation and Natural Selection.” Invited book chapter in The Princeton Guide to Evolution, edited by Jonathan Losos. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. In press
Lowry, D. B. (2010) Landscape evolutionary genomics. Biology Letters. 6: 502-504
Important Things
- My Website
- Contact Info: You can contact me at davidbryantlowry@gmail.com.
- Make sure to check out the Mimulus Community and the Texas Switchgrass Collaborative.
Bioinformatic/Statistical Software and Resources
- Phytozome
- Bonferroni Correction Calculator
- Apollo
- sim4
- BLAT
- NCBI Trace Archives
- ClustalW
- Primer 3
- Q-Value calculator
- Install MySQL on a mac
Analysis of fitness data
Other useful sites
- Blank Outline Maps that can be used to make figures.