Ronald Adkins
Assistant Professor, Biology
Director, Automated DNA Sequencing Facility
Tel: 413-545-4627, FAX: 413-545-3243 radkins@bio.umass.edu
I pursue two main research projects in my laboratory. These stem from my long-term interest in the role of genetics in health and evolution. Many of the techniques that currently fall under the rubric of bioinformatics have been in the toolkit of the molecular evolutionary biologist for many years. I employ those analytical methods to discern the role genes play in health and development and in the evolution of mammals.
Genetic Basis for Fetal Growth Restriction
Although there are many environmental causes for fetal growth restriction (FGR), it is clear that genetics plays a prominent role in the occurrence of idiopathic (unexplained) fetal growth retardation. I am studying the role a set of candidate loci play in FGR. Due to my years of research on the evolution and genomic structure of the primate growth hormone, much of my effort is devoted to understanding the role the various genes of the human growth hormone locus play in FGR. The human growth hormone locus contains five closely-related genes - two for growth hormone genes and three for chorionic somatomammotropin (placental lactogen). All of these genes are tandemly arranged on the same chromosome over a span of about 46,000 nucleotides. Four of these genes are expressed only in the placenta and their encoded proteins play a significant role in stimulating fetal growth and facilitating nutrient availability to the fetus. Additionally, the locus is undergoing a myriad of unique genetic processes, including gene conversion, unequal recombination, functional divergence, and accelerated change. My laboratory is identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and major lesion in the growth hormone locus and determining their association with fetal size at term. We are also studying the origin of this unique locus, the underlying basis for the functional divergence of the proteins, and the rate of spontaneous mutation in humans.
Molecular Systematics of Mammals with Emphasis on Rodents
The other main emphasis in my laboratory is using molecular data to determine the evolutionary relationships among mammals. Currently, I am devoting most of my effort to the phylogenetic relationships of rodents, especially the largest family (~25% of all mammals) of mammals, Muridae. I also have a great interest in the broader clade that includes Rodents, Lagomorphs, Primates, Scandentia (tree shrews), and Dermoptera (colugos). I am using nucleotide sequence data generated in the automated sequencing facility I direct to determine these relationships and to estimate the dates of these speciation events. These studies involve sequencing biomedically important genes, for example those associated with cancer, in a variety of mammals ranging from humans to endangered species distributed throughout the world. Recently I have begun to incorporate an exciting new source of data into these studies. I am surveying murids for unique insertions of short interspersed elements (SINEs). These elements have been inserting into new locations very actively in rodents and should be able to define clades of murid rodents that can not be identified based on morphology or nucleotide sequence data.
For Prospective Students
| Fetal Growth Restriction | |
| Molecular Systematics |
Automated DNA Sequencing Facility
My wife's home page (Julia Krushkal)
Away from UMass
(large file, long download)
Graduate Programs
Saturday, January 6, 2001 7:55 PM
