Diane P. Genereux
Evolutionary Biology


Research Interests

I. Cellular Population Epigenetics
How does a single genome produce the many different cellular types that characterize an individual's various tissues?

One partial explanation is that cells identical at the genetic level are distinct at the epigenetic level: they exhibit heritable differences in their gene expression profiles. Some of this epigenetic signal is encoded in tissue-specific methylation patterns --- the densities and distributions of methyl groups bound to the nucleotides in DNA sequences. Indeed, in many species, these epigenetic disparities produce measurable differences in gene expression levels. But differences in methylation provide only a proximate explanation for tissue heterogeneity. How do identical sequence copies become overlayed with different methylation patterns? And how are those patterns maintained over repeated rounds of cell division? Brooks Miner , Charles Laird , Carl Bergstrom and I are using population-epigenetic modelling to investigate the processes that enable transmission of epigenetic information. We have developed a model under which we can infer the CpG site-specific rates of maintenance and de novo methylation.

We are now working to develop experimental approaches to understand both the initial establishment of methylation patterns, and the factors that account for differences in site-specific methylation rates.

II. Quantifying Bacterial Relatedness
Bacteria secrete into their habitats antibiotic resistence factors, virulence factors, and enzymes that free nutrients for general use. While these molecules benefit the population at large, any individual bacterium could increase its own fitness by exploting others' contributions while contributing no public goods of its own. How can this be? As is the case with cooperation among multicellular eukaryotes, the persistence of cooperation in bacterial populations derives, at least in part, from the close genetic relatedness of individuals. But the relationship of relatedness to population size depends heavily on whether reproduction is sexual or aseuxal. Along with Carl Bergstrom , I am developing a model to quantify relatedness in bacterial populations.



Publications

Diane P. Genereux and John M. Logsdon, Jr. 2003. Much Ado about Bacteria-to-Vertebrate Lateral Gene Transfer. Trends in Genetics. 19: 191-195.
.pdf

Diane P. Genereux, Brooks E. Miner, Carl T. Bergstrom, Charles D. Laird, 2005. A population-epigenetic model to infer site-specific methylation rates from double-stranded DNA methylation patterns. in press at Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences.
.pdf

Diane P. Genereux and Carl T. Bergstrom, 2005. Evolution in Action: Understanding Antibiotic Resistance. (to be published by National Association of Biology Teachers).
.pdf

Abstracts
Genereux, D.P. and C.T. Bergstrom (2003) Maintenance of Cooperative Behavior in Bacterial Populations. Poster, Gordon Conference in Microbial Population Biology. (July 2003, Andover, New Hampshire)

McCloskey, M.L., D.P. Genereux and C.T. Bergstrom (2003) Honest Signalling and Quorum Sensing. Poster, Gordon Conference in Microbial Population Biology. (December 2003, Andover, New Hampshire)

Genereux D.P. and J.M. Logsdon, Jr. (2002) Using Sequence Data to Assess Models for the Preservation of Duplicate Genes. Poster, Society for the Study of Evolution, Annual Meeting (June 2002, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois)

Genereux, D.P. and J.M. Logsdon Jr. (2001) From preservation to innovation: A model for the evolution of novel function after tandem (gene) duplication. Poster, Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution Annual Meeting (July 2001, Athens, Georgia)

Presentations
Genereux, D.P. (2004) How are distinct epigenetic methylation patterns maintained during cell division? Presentation, West Coast Chromsomes and Chromatin Meeting (December 2004, Asilomar, California)

Other Research
Brooks Miner and I wrote a Perl script to aid in preparing for further analysis DNA sequences from hairpin-bisulfite PCR reactions.

I did some work on lateral gene transfer with John Logsdon (now at University of Iowa).

CV
My CV in .pdf.

Teaching
Chris Himes and I are developing a course on human origins and diversity. Please check back here soon for our preliminary syllabus.

Other
Running
Recipes


Contact Information
Bergstrom Lab
Department of Biology
University of Washington
Box 351800
Seattle, WA 98195-1800
Fax: (206) 543-3041
genereux@u.washington.edu

I am also a student in the Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution program at Emory University in Atlanta.


My work is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2002).


Last modified 14 March 2005. Copyright 2005, DPG.