Carol Lee
Associate Professor of Zoology
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1998
Postdoctoral Research: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC-San Diego
Lab Website: http://mywebspace.wisc.edu/carollee/web/Lee/Lee.html
Address: 420 Birge Hall
Telephone: 262-2675
E-mail: carollee@wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Genetic architecture and evolvability of invasive populations; Phenotypic evolution (physiology, morphology); Genomic targets of selection; Phylogeography and molecular ecology
Research Fields:
Population/Evolution
Genomics
Research Description:
The research in
the Lee Laboratory focuses on evolutionary mechanisms that allow organisms to
cross boundaries between environments. Habitat transitions have led to major
evolutionary episodes of radiation and speciation in many taxa. Over
evolutionary time, two extraordinary habitat transitions have required solving
problems of regulating fluxes between body fluids and the environment, namely,
freshwater invasion from the sea, and terrestrial invasion from aquatic
habitats. On contemporary time scales, the vast majority of successful invaders
into the Great Lakes and other freshwater habitats are immigrants from brackish
and saline sources. Research in the Lee Lab has focused on very recent
invasions of fresh water from saltwater habitats, and adaptations to ion
limitation in fresh water, integrating approaches from evolutionary physiology
and genetics. Much of the research has focused on the copepod species complex Eurytemora affinis, which provides an ideal comparative system
because of the presence of (1) multiple independent invasions into fresh water,
offering replicated tests of adaptation, (2) invasive and noninvasive clades,
allowing us to determine properties that are exclusive of invaders, (3)
laboratory lines selected for freshwater tolerance, to test whether
evolutionary events in the laboratory replicate those in nature, and (4) inbred
lines, which are being used for transcriptome and genome sequencing. The
freshwater populations have experienced evolutionary shifts in osmotic
tolerance, V-type ATPase activity and expression, integument permeability, and
starvation resistance. In addition, our metagenomic sequencing of the
copepod microbiome has revealed shifts in microbial community composition
during habitat invasions. The key questions are: what are the genetic and
physiological targets of selection during freshwater invasions and are the same
evolutionary mechanisms involved during independent invasions? And what are the
functional interactions between the copepod and its microbiome, and do these
interactions shift during habitat invasions? Using gene expression analysis and
functional assays, we have found plausible candidate genes that might be under
selection during invasion events. We are currently focusing on transcriptome
and genome sequence analyses of the copepod and its microbiome.
Representative Publications:
Go to Lee Lab website for more comprehensive listing of publications:
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/carollee/web/Lee/pubs.html
Lee, CE, M Kiergaard, BD Eads, GW
Gelembiuk, M Posavi. 2011. Pumping ions: Rapid parallel evolution of ionic
regulation following habitat invasions. Evolution. 65:2229-2244.
Lee, CE, GW Gelembiuk.
2008. Evolutionary origins of invasive populations. Evolutionary
Applications. 1:427-448.
Winkler, G, JJ Dodson, CE Lee.
2008. Heterogeneity within the native range: Population genetic analyses
of sympatric invasive and noninvasive clades of the freshwater invading copepod
Eurytemora affinis. Molecular Ecology. 17:415-430.
Lee, CE, JL Remfert, YM Chang.
2007. Response to selection and evolvability of invasive
populations. Genetica. 129:179-192.
Lee, CE. 2002. Evolutionary
genetics of invasive species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
17: 386-391.
Lee, CE, BW Frost. 2002.
Morphological stasis in the Eurytemora affinis species complex (Copepoda:
Temoridae). Hydrobiologia. 480:111-128.
Lee, CE. 1999. Rapid and repeated
invasions of fresh water by the saltwater copepod Eurytemora affinis.
Evolution. 53:1423-1434.
Associate Professor of Zoology
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1998
Postdoctoral Research: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC-San Diego
Address: 420 Birge Hall
Telephone: 262-2675
E-mail: carollee@wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Genetic architecture and evolvability of invasive populations; Phenotypic evolution (physiology, morphology); Genomic targets of selection; Phylogeography and molecular ecology
Research Fields:
Population/Evolution
Genomics
The research in the Lee Laboratory focuses on evolutionary mechanisms that allow organisms to cross boundaries between environments. Habitat transitions have led to major evolutionary episodes of radiation and speciation in many taxa. Over evolutionary time, two extraordinary habitat transitions have required solving problems of regulating fluxes between body fluids and the environment, namely, freshwater invasion from the sea, and terrestrial invasion from aquatic habitats. On contemporary time scales, the vast majority of successful invaders into the Great Lakes and other freshwater habitats are immigrants from brackish and saline sources. Research in the Lee Lab has focused on very recent invasions of fresh water from saltwater habitats, and adaptations to ion limitation in fresh water, integrating approaches from evolutionary physiology and genetics. Much of the research has focused on the copepod species complex Eurytemora affinis, which provides an ideal comparative system because of the presence of (1) multiple independent invasions into fresh water, offering replicated tests of adaptation, (2) invasive and noninvasive clades, allowing us to determine properties that are exclusive of invaders, (3) laboratory lines selected for freshwater tolerance, to test whether evolutionary events in the laboratory replicate those in nature, and (4) inbred lines, which are being used for transcriptome and genome sequencing. The freshwater populations have experienced evolutionary shifts in osmotic tolerance, V-type ATPase activity and expression, integument permeability, and starvation resistance. In addition, our metagenomic sequencing of the copepod microbiome has revealed shifts in microbial community composition during habitat invasions. The key questions are: what are the genetic and physiological targets of selection during freshwater invasions and are the same evolutionary mechanisms involved during independent invasions? And what are the functional interactions between the copepod and its microbiome, and do these interactions shift during habitat invasions? Using gene expression analysis and functional assays, we have found plausible candidate genes that might be under selection during invasion events. We are currently focusing on transcriptome and genome sequence analyses of the copepod and its microbiome.
Go to Lee Lab website for more comprehensive listing of publications:
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/carollee/web/Lee/pubs.html
Lee, CE, M Kiergaard, BD Eads, GW
Gelembiuk, M Posavi. 2011. Pumping ions: Rapid parallel evolution of ionic
regulation following habitat invasions. Evolution. 65:2229-2244.
Lee, CE, GW Gelembiuk.
2008. Evolutionary origins of invasive populations. Evolutionary
Applications. 1:427-448.
Winkler, G, JJ Dodson, CE Lee.
2008. Heterogeneity within the native range: Population genetic analyses
of sympatric invasive and noninvasive clades of the freshwater invading copepod
Eurytemora affinis. Molecular Ecology. 17:415-430.
Lee, CE, JL Remfert, YM Chang.
2007. Response to selection and evolvability of invasive
populations. Genetica. 129:179-192.
Lee, CE. 2002. Evolutionary
genetics of invasive species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
17: 386-391.
Lee, CE, BW Frost. 2002.
Morphological stasis in the Eurytemora affinis species complex (Copepoda:
Temoridae). Hydrobiologia. 480:111-128.
