|
|
Research Interests
Our laboratory is interested in studying the short and long term effects of inbreeding on populations and the process of evolution. Flowering plants are excellent models for this question because they display broad variation between complete outcrossing and self-fertilization. Current research focuses on three major themes: 1) the evolution and breakdown of self-incompatibility in plants; 2) inbreeding and the process of incipient speciation; and 3) the conservation genetics of endemic species. In each of these areas, my lab employs polymorphic genetic markers, studies in natural populations, and manipulative greenhouse experiments to elucidate the evolutionary processes that maintain or transform genetic diversity in the wild.
Prospective graduate students:
I am currently accepting graduate students with interests in population biology, ecology, evolution, and genetics. Graduate students have the option to work on some of the lab’s organisms (e.g. Leavenworthia), but are also free to explore their own ideas and interests in other systems. Interested students should contact me via email at jwbusch@wsu.edu to discuss the possibility of joining the lab.
Representative Publications
Schoen, DJ and JW Busch. 2009. The evolution of dominance in sporophytic self-incompatibility systems. II. Mate availability and recombination. Evolution (in press).
Busch, JW, J Sharma and DJ Schoen. 2008. Molecular characterization of Lal2, an SRK-like gene linked to the S-locus in the wild mustard Leavenworthia alabamica. Genetics 178: 2055-2067.
Busch, JW and DJ Schoen. 2008. The evolution of self-incompatibility when mates are limiting. Trends in Plant Science 13:128-136.
Busch, JW. 2006. Heterosis in an isolated, effectively small, and self-fertilizing population of the flowering plant Leavenworthia alabamica. Evolution 60:184-191.
Busch, JW. 2005. The evolution of self-compatibility in geographically peripheral populations of Leavenworthia alabamica (Brassicaceae). American Journal of Botany 92:1503-1512.
Busch, JW. 2005. Inbreeding depression in self-incompatible and self-compatible populations of Leavenworthia alabamica. Heredity 94:159-165.