Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Duncan
Research Fellow, Laboratory for Evolution and Development, Department of Biochemistry.
Dr Elizabeth Duncan’s research interests are focussed in the area of phenotypic plasticity, genome architecture, epigenetics and evolution and development.
One of the key questions that Elizabeth is addressing in her research is how the environment interacts with an animal’s genome to generate different phenotypes. This phenomenon, known as phenotypic plasticity, is common amongst animals and is critical for species fitness in changing environments but also has a role in human diseases such as diabetes and obesity. While the phenomenon of phenotypic plasticity has been extensively studied, its molecular basis remains largely unknown.
Elizabeth is using two different and extreme examples of phenotypic plasticity seen in invertebrates (the honeybee and the pea aphid) to understand this complex phenomenon.
For more information on Elizabeth: http://biochem.otago.ac.nz/deardenlab
Teaching
Elizabeth teaches in GENE 223 and GENE 411.
Recent publications
Duncan, E.J. and Dearden, P.K. (2010) “Evolution of a genomic regulatory domain: The role of gene co-option and gene duplication in the Enhancer of Split Complex. Genome Research (20(7) 917-28).
Gerardo, N.M., Altincicek, B., Anselme, C., Atamian, H., Barribeau, S.M., de Vos, M., Duncan, E.J., Evans, J.D., Gabaldón, T., Ghanim, M., Heddi, A., Kaloshian, I., Latorre, A., Monegat, C., Moya, A., Nakabachi, A., Parker, B.J., Pérez-Brocal, B., Pignatelli, M., Rahbé, Y., Ramsey, J., Spragg, C., Tamames, J., Tamarit, D., Tamborindeguy, C. and Vilcinskas, A. (2010) “Immunity and defence in pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum” Genome Biology 11:R21 (doi:10.1186/gb-2010- 11-2-r21)
The International Aphid Genomics Consortium (includes Duncan, E.J.) (2010) “Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum” PLoS Biology (8(2): e1000313. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000313).
Shigenobu, S., Bickel, R.D., Brisson, J., Butts, T., Chang, C., Christiaens, O., Davis, G.K., Duncan, E.J, Janssen, R., Ferrier, D., Lu., H, McGregor, A.P., Miura, T., Smagghe, G., Smith, J., van der Zee, M., Velarde, R., Wilson, M, Dearden, P., Stern, D.L. (2010) “Comprehensive survey of developmental genes in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum: frequent lineage-specific duplications and losses of developmental genes” Insect Molecular Biology (Volume 19, Issue s2, 47-62).
Hendrick, P., Bond, C., Duncan, E.J. and Hale L (2009) “The Variation in Undergraduate Physical Therapy Students’ Experiences of Clinical Reasoning” Physical Therapy 89(5): 430-42
Duncan, E.J., Wilson, M.J., Smith, J.M., Dearden, P.K. (2008) “Evolutionary origin and genomic organisation of runt-domain containing genes in arthropods.” BMC Genomics 9: 558.