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Topics:
- experimental evolution using microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) and isolated enzymes, see website Darwinjaar (in Dutch)
- epistasis and the evolution of sex
- mutation rates
- spatial structure and interference competition
- clonal interference and the evolutionary mechanics of adaptation
- predicting the first steps of evolution
Research interests:
We use microbes (both prokaryote and eukaryote) in laboratory evolution experiments to study the genetics and ecology of adaptation. The specific topics we address include the evolutionary causes and consequences of sex, increased mutation rates and interference competition via anticompetitor toxins, the evolutionary role of environmental structure, and the predictability of the early steps of adaptation. Microbes offer numerous advantages for such studies, such as rapid generations, large populations, and ease of experimental control. But even microbes have limitations, and we have now started experimental studies of the in vitro evolution of single enzymes conferring antibiotic resistance which allow increased control of key variables such as recombination, mutation rate and strength of selection, and hence the exploration of parts of sequence space never explored before by nature.
Teaching:
- Evolution and Systematics, GEN 11306
- Genetic Analysis, Tools and Concepts, GEN 30306
- Supervision of thesis topics involving experimental microbial and in vitro evolution to address fundamental and applied problems, including the molecular causes and phenotypic effects of random mutations, the causes and consequences of gene interactions (epistasis) and genetic robustness, the evolution of sex and recombination, the role of spatial structure in adaptive evolution, and the repeatability of evolution.
- Thesis topics
Selected publications:
- J.A.G.M. de Visser, S.-C. Park and J. Krug. 2009. Exploring the effect of sex on empirical fitness landscapes. Am. Nat. 174: S15-S30.
- Rozen, D.E., N. Philippe, J.A. de Visser, R.E. Lenski and D. Schneider. 2009. Death and cannibalism in a seasonal environment facilitate bacterial coexistence. Ecol. Lett. 12: 34-44.
- Rozen, D.E., M.G.L.M. Habets, A. Handel and J.A.G.M. de Visser. 2008. Heterogeneous adaptive trajectories of small populations on complex fitness landscapes. PLoS One, 3: e1715.
- Wloch-Salamon, D.M., D. Gerla, R.F. Hoekstra and J.A.G.M. de Visser. 2008. Effect of dispersal and nutrient availability on the competitive ability of toxin-producing yeast. Proc. R. Soc. London B, 275: 535-541.
- De Visser J.A.G.M. and S.F. Elena. 2007. The evolution of sex: empirical insights into the roles of epistasis and drift. Nat. Rev. Genet. 8: 139-149.
- Habets, M.G.J.L., D.E. Rozen, R.F. Hoekstra and J.A.G.M. de Visser. 2006. The effect of population structure on the adaptive radiation of microbial populations evolving in spatially structured environments. Ecol. Lett. 9: 1041-1048.
- De Visser, J.A.G.M. and D.E. Rozen. 2006. Clonal interference and the periodic selection of new beneficial mutations in Escherichia coli. Genetics 172: 2093-2100.
- De Visser, J.A.G.M., A.D.L. Akkermans, R.F. Hoekstra, and W.M. de Vos. 2004. Insertion-sequence-mediated mutations isolated during adaptation to growth and starvation in Lactococcus lactis. Genetics 168:1145-1157.
- De Visser, J.A.G.M., J. Hermisson, G.P. Wagner, L. Ancel Meyers, H. Bagheri-Chaichian, J.L. Blanchard, L. Chao, J.M. Cheverud, S.F. Elena, W. Fontana, G.Gibson, T.F. Hansen, D. Krakauer, R.C. Lewontin, C. Ofria, S.H. Rice, G. von Dassow, A. Wagner, and M.C. Whitlock. 2003. Perspective: evolution and detection of genetic robustness. Evolution 57: 1959-1972.
- Zeyl, C., M. Mizesko and J.A.G.M. de Visser. 2001. Mutational meltdown in laboratory yeast populations. Evolution 55: 909-917.
- De Visser, J.A.G.M., C.W. Zeyl, P.J. Gerrish, J.L. Blanchard and R.E. Lenski. 1999. Diminishing returns from mutation supply rate in asexual populations. Science 283: 404-406.
- De Visser, J.A.G.M., R.F. Hoekstra and H. van den Ende. 1997. Test of interaction between genetic markers that affect fitness in Aspergillus niger . Evolution 51: 1499-1505.
All publications (incl. pdf's)
Biography:
| Education |
|
| 1981 - 1989 |
MSc Biology, Utrecht and Nijmegen University |
| 1991 - 1996 |
PhD Genetics, Wageningen University and University of Amsterdam |
| Professional |
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| 1989 - 1991 |
Civil service, Energy budget study in the simultaneous hermaphrodite snail Lymnaea stagnalis, Free University Amsterdam (lab of Bas Kooijman). |
| 1995 |
University teacher, teaching courses Ecological population genetics, Population and quantitative genetics, and Population genetics and evolutionary biology, Wageningen University. |
| 1996 - 1998 |
Postdoctoral fellow (NWO-Talent fellowship), Experimental evolutionary studies of the mutation rate in E. coli and S. cerevisiae, Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University (lab of Richard Lenski). |
| 1998 - 2001 |
Postdoctoral fellow (NWO-Puls fellowship), Mutation and adaptation mechanisms in Gram+ bacteria, Laboratory for Microbiology, Wageningen University (lab of Antoon Akkermans and Willem de Vos). |
2001 - 2008
2008-present |
Assistant professor (starting with NWO-VIDI grant), Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University.
Associate professor, Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University |
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