McDonald, Michael - Monash University - School of Biological Sciences

研究领域

Mike is interested in the genetics of adaptation. To study this question, his lab propagates populations of yeast (and other microbes) for 1000's of generations in a variety of laboratory environments. Microbes grow and divide very quickly, providing a means for directly observing evolution as it happens. The goal is to understand how organisms adapt to better fit their environment, asking what genes do adaptive mutations occur in, how do the mutations change the genetic program of the cell and ultimately, whether we can predict how organisms will respond to environmental change. Mikes lab employs methods such as high throughput robotic liquid handling, whole genome sequencing and molecular genetic techniques.

近期论文

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Mutation at a distance caused by homopolymeric guanine repeats in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Michael J. McDonald, Yen-Hsin Yu, Jheng-Fen Guo, Shin Yen Chong, Cheng-Fu Kao and Jun-Yi Leu Science Advances May 27 2016:E1501033 Free Open Access Sex speeds adaptation by altering the dynamics of molecular evolution. McDonald MJ, Rice DP, Desai MM. Nature. 2016 Mar 10;531(7593):233-6. doi: 10.1038/nature17143. Epub 2016 Feb 24. PMID: 26909573 PDF The evolutionary dynamics of tRNA-gene copy number and codon-use in E. coli. McDonald MJ, Chou CH, Swamy KB, Huang HD, Leu JY. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2015 Aug 19;15:163. doi: 10.1186/s12862-015-0441-y. PMID: 26282127 PMC Open Access FullText Crowded growth leads to the spontaneous evolution of semistable coexistence in laboratory yeast populations. Frenkel EM, McDonald MJ, Van Dyken JD, Kosheleva K, Lang GI, Desai MM. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 8;112(36):11306-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1506184112. Epub 2015 Aug 3. PMID: 26240355 PMC Open Access FullText The evolution of low mutation rates in experimental mutator populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. McDonald MJ, Hsieh YY, Yu YH, Chang SL, Leu JY. Current Biology. 2012 Jul 10;22(13):1235-40. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.04.056. Epub 2012 Jun 21. PMID: 22727704 PDF Clusters of nucleotide substitutions and insertion/deletion mutations are associated with repeat sequences. McDonald MJ, Wang WC, Huang HD, Leu JY. PLoS Biology. 2011 Jun;9(6):e1000622. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000622. Epub 2011 Jun 14. PMID: 21697975 Open Access Fulltext