Profile

David Carlini

Department Chair, Biology
Department of Biology

  • I conduct research in the fields of molecular evolution and population genetics. Current projects focus on the functional significance of genetic variation in protein coding genes. For example, we have demonstrated that "silent" variation in DNA sequences is not neutral and can affect the accuracy and/or efficiency of mRNA translation and mRNA splicing. In another study, we have compared visual proteins (opsins) in surface and cave populations of amphipod crustaceans and have found that, while opsin gene expression is significantly reduced in individuals from the cave populations, levels of natural selection to maintain opsin function are comparable in surface and cave populations. Research findings have been published in the journals Molecular Biology and Evolution, Molecular Ecology, and Genetics, among others.

  • Degrees

    PhD, College of William and Mary
    MS, Florida Institute of Technology
    BA, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • OFFICE

  • CAS - Biology
  • Hurst - 101B

  • CONTACT INFO

  • (202) 885-2184
  • Send email Profile UserID

  • FOR THE MEDIA

  • To request an interview for a
    news story, call AU Communications
    at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

  • Spring 2012

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

  • Molecular evolution, population genetics, & molecular systematics.

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • National Science Foundation. Functional analysis of the codon bias in Adh gene of Drosophila melanogaster.(2003-2008)
  • LI-COR Genomics Education Program (2005)
  • NOAA Sea Grant.Phylogenetic Systematics and Cepalopod Biodiversity (1998-1999)
  • NSF Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Award (1996-1999)

Work In Progress

  • Functional role of codon bias in the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase gene.
  • Phylogeography of cave and surface spring populations of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus minus inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear genes.
  • Molecular evolution of opsin proteins in cave and surface spring populations of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus minus.

Selected Publications

  • Hense, W., N. Anderson, S. Hutter, W. Stephan, J. Parsch, and D. B. Carlini. 2010. Experimentally increased codon bias in the Drosophila Adh gene leads to an increase in larval, but not adult, alcohol dehydrogenase activity. Genetics 184: 547-555.
  • Hutchins, B., D. W. Fong, and Carlini, D. B. 2010. Genetic population structure of the Madison Cave isopod, Antrolana lira (Flabellifera; Cirolanidae) in the Shenandoah Valley of the eastern United States. Journal of Crustacean Biology 30: 312-322.
  • Carlini, D. B., J. Manning, P. G. Sullivan, and D. W. Fong. 2009. Molecular genetic variation and population structure in morphologically differentiated cave and surface populations of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus minus. Molecular Ecology 18: 1932-1945.
  • Fortunato, C.S., D. B. Carlini, E. Ewers, and K. L. Bushaw-Newton. 2009. Nitrifier and dinitrifier molecular operational taxonomic unit compositions from sites of a freshwater estuary of Chesapeake Bay. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 55: 333-346.
  • Carlini, D. B., L. K. Kunkle, and M. Vecchione. 2006. A molecular systematic evaluation of the squid genus Illex (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae) in the North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 41: 496-502.

 

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