John P. Masly, PhD
Associate Professor and Associate Director of the School of Biological Sciences
The primary goal of research in the Masly Lab is to understand the mechanisms that generate biodiversity. We use a variety of molecular technologies to study how genetic change directs the development of differences between species to ultimately give rise to two important evolutionary processes— speciation and phenotypic evolution. We study two powerful systems to address questions at the interface of evolution, genetics, and development: the Drosophila melanogaster species complex and several closely related species of Enallagma damselflies.
Our current work is focused on identifying genes that specify male and female reproductive traits and characterizing how variation at these loci directs developmental and physiological differences between the sexes and among species. Additional descriptions of our ongoing research projects can be found on the Masly Lab website.
Masly, J.P. and Md Golam Azom (2022) Molecular divergence with major morphological consequences: development and evolution of organ size and shape. Essays in Biochemistry EBC20220118. doi:10.1042/EBC20220118.
Frazee, S.R., A.R. Harper, M. Afkhami, M.L. Wood, J.C. McCrory and J.P. Masly. (2021) Introgression reveals a role of male genital morphology during the evolution of reproductive isolation in Drosophila. Evolution 75: 989-1002. doi: 10.1111/evo.14169.
Barnard, A.A., O.M. Fincke, M.A. McPeek, and J.P. Masly. (2017) Mechanical and tactile incompatibilities cause reproductive isolation between two young damselfly species. Evolution 71 (10): 2410-2427. doi: 10.1111/evo.13315/full.
Smith B.N., A.M. Ghazhanfari, R.A. Bohm, W.P. Welch, B. Zhang, and J.P. Masly. (2015) A Flippase-mediated GAL80/GAL4 Intersectional Resource for Dissecting Appendage Development in Drosophila. G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics 5: 2105-2112. doi:10.1534/g3.115.019810.
Masly, J.P., J.E. Dalton, S. Srivastava, L. Chen, and M.N. Arbeitman. (2011) The genetic basis of rapidly evolving male genital morphology in Drosophila. Genetics 189 (1): 357-374. doi: 10.1534/genetics.111.130815.
