Dr. Amy Lawton-Rauh

Dr. Amy Lawton-RauhAssistant Professor
Ph.D. Genetics
2003, North Carolina State University

Research Interests
Population Genetics
Molecular Evolution

Office: 101 Jordan Hall
Phone: (864) 656-4660
Email: amylr@clemson.edu
Website: Lawton-Rauh Lab Website

Research Activities

Evolutionary population genomics and molecular evolution

Research in the Lawton-Rauh lab focuses on mechanisms underlying genetic divergence in populations, both generically around the genome and in candidate genes. In particular, we investigate the interplay of effective population size, allele sharing among populations and species, and linkage disequilibrium by taking an empirical approach in natural plant populations. How these factors shape genetic variation at individual loci, as well as the association among loci, indicate the impact of demographic history on genome evolution. The relationships among alleles (i.e. linkage disequilibrium and haplotype diversity) and effective population size reflect demographic history and the potential impact of selection on genetic variation at the population level. This tight interaction suggests that the partitioning of genetic variation attributable to demographic forces versus natural selection is difficult, but necessary, to unwind in order to understand the mechanisms underlying genetic variation and the role of natural selection in species divergence. To empirically investigate the relationships among linkage disequilibrium, demographic forces, and natural selection in shaping genetic variation, our work focuses on several plant systems spanning the use of evolutionary genomics tools in the agroecosystem to the textbook example of adaptive evolution:

  • Oryza sativa, weedy rice-cultivated rice interactions in the agroecosystem
  • The genus Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae), including Amaranthus palmeri
  • Close relatives of the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana (especially Arabidopsis lyrata subsp. petraea and Arabidopsis arenosa)
  • The Hawaiian Silversword Alliance insular plant adaptive radiation

Other research interests and directions in our lab include: empirical null distributions for hypothesis testing in naturally-distributed species, extension of model system-based experimental and analytical techniques to non-model species, molecular evolution and population dynamics of duplicated genes and genomes, divergence population genetics in other plant lineages, and evolutionary dynamics of genes in different gene classes (at the population level and among closely-related species).

Recent Publications

Jimenez, S., Lawton-Rauh, A., Reighard, G.L., Abbott, A.G., D.G. Bielenberg. (2009). Phylogenetic analysis and molecular evolution of the dormancy associated MADS-box genes from peach. BMC Plant Biology 9(1):81 [Epub ahead of print]

Lawton-Rauh, A. (2008). Demographic processes shaping genetic variation. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 11(2):103-109.

Lawton-Rauh, A., Robichaux, R.H., and M.D. Purugganan. (2007). Diversity and divergence patterns in regulatory genes suggest differential gene flow in recently-derived species of the Hawaiian silversword alliance adaptive radiation (Asteraceae). Molecular Ecology 16(19):3995-4018.

Lawton-Rauh, A., Friar, E., and D.L. Remington. (2007). Collective evolution processes and the tempo of lineage divergence in the Hawaiian silversword alliance adaptive radiation (Heliantheae, Asteraceae). Molecular Ecology 16(19):3993-3995.

Schranz, M.E. , Windsor, A.J., Song, B-H, Lawton-Rauh, A. and T. Mitchell-Olds. (2007). Comparative genetic mapping in Boechera stricta (Brassicaceae). Plant Physiology 144:286-298.

Additional Publication Resources

  Pubmed Search