IUB researchers to investigate genetic recombination's causes, consequences

IUB evolutionary geneticist Michael Lynch will lead a multidisciplinary research team that includes IUB biologists Miriam Zolan and Curtis Lively, IUB mathematician Elizabeth Housworth, and genomicists Justen Andrews and John Colbourne, both of the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics located at IU Bloomington.

Genetic recombination is a critical phenomenon in the life cycles of all sexual organisms, and it is also the main reason why every human being looks different. Lynch and his team will focus primarily on genetic recombination in Daphnia a genus of tiny animals also known as water fleas. Daphnia species have been used for decades by biologists around the world for basic studies of how genes work.

The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation's Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research program.