Research Interests

Mutation is the ultimate source of new material upon which natural selection and other evolutionary forces can act. I am interested in examining how mutations affect the behaviors of conflict and cooperation in the social amoebae, Dictyostelium discoideum. Dictyostelium creates fruiting bodies that are composed of two cell types: reproductive spores and non-reproductive stalk cells. These fruiting bodies can be composed from cells of multiple genotypes, causing conflict to occur if cells of one genotype are able to be overrepresented in the spores. I am investigating how mutation influences the ability of a cell to become a reproductive spore versus a non-reproductive stalk cell. I am also interested in studying the fitness and genetic affects of mutation on Dictyostelium.