Douglas R. Taylor | University of Virginia School of Medicine

Bio & Overview

Most of our work involves the study of plant reproductive systems to address broader evolutionary issues. For example we study how evolution is influenced by the fact that populations are distributed in space (population structure) using gynodioecious plants as a model system. Several projects focus on how selection at one level or organization subsumes, or is subsumed by, selection at higher levels or organization...so-called "levels of selection". This has led us into studies of genetic conflict such as epidemics of selfish genes within natural populations and mitochondrial diseases that result from the accumulation of parasitic organelles within cells. Students generally develop their own research programs so the research going on in the lab is diverse. Follow the research links for details of our projects on levels of selection, evolution in structured populations, selfish genes & genetic conflict, speciation, phylogeography and molecular evolution. Our work involves a wide variety of methods: phylogenetics & molecular population genetics, field experiments, greenhouse experiments & crossing studies, theory. For more information on research interests, see my lab webpage: http://people.virginia.edu/~drt3b/index.php

Academic Information

Department: Biology

Academic Title: Professor and Chair

Research Interests

Evolutionary Biology

Selected Publications

2019

Edgington, H. A., & Taylor, D. R. (2019). Ecological contributions to body shape evolution in salamanders of the genus Eurycea (Plethodontidae). PLOS ONE, 14(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0216754

2018

Antonovics, J., Abbate, J. L., Bruns, E. L., Fields, P. D., Forrester, N. J., Gilbert, K. J., . . . Taylor, D. R. (2018). Effect of the anther-smut fungus Microbotryum on the juvenile growth of its host Silene latifolia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 105(6), 1088-1095. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1114

2016

Rockenbach, K., Havird, J. C., Monroe, J. G., Triant, D. A., Taylor, D. R., & Sloan, D. B. (2016). Positive Selection in Rapidly Evolving Plastid-Nuclear Enzyme Complexes. GENETICS, 204(4), 1507-+. doi:10.1534/genetics.116.188268

Berardi, A. E., Fields, P. D., Abbate, J. L., & Taylor, D. R. (2016). Elevational divergence and clinal variation in floral color and leaf chemistry in Silene vulgaris. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 103(8), 1508-1523. doi:10.3732/ajb.1600106

Edgington, H. A., Ingram, C. M., & Taylor, D. R. (2016). Cyto-nuclear discordance suggests complex evolutionary history in the cave-dwelling salamander, Eurycea lucifuga. ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 6(17), 6121-6138. doi:10.1002/ece3.2212

Sebasky, M. E., Keller, S. R., & Taylor, D. R. (2016). Investigating past range dynamics for a weed of cultivation, Silene vulgaris. ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 6(14), 4800-4811. doi:10.1002/ece3.2250

Sanderson, B. J., Augat, M. E., Taylor, D. R., & Brodie, E. D. I. I. I. (2016). Scale dependence of sex ratio in wild plant populations: implications for social selection. ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 6(5), 1411-1419. doi:10.1002/ece3.1958

2015

Wu, Z., Cuthbert, J. M., Taylor, D. R., & Sloan, D. B. (2015). The massive mitochondrial genome of the angiosperm Silene noctiflora is evolving by gain or loss of entire chromosomes. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 112(33), 10185-10191. doi:10.1073/pnas.1421397112

2014

Keller, S. R., Fields, P. D., Berardi, A. E., & Taylor, D. R. (2014). Recent admixture generates heterozygosity-fitness correlations during the range expansion of an invading species. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 27(3), 616-627. doi:10.1111/jeb.12330

Fields, P. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2014). Determinants of Genetic Structure in a Nonequilibrium Metapopulation of the Plant Silene latifolia. PLOS ONE, 9(9). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104575

2013

Sloan, D. B., Triant, D. A., Forrester, N. J., Bergner, L. M., Wu, M., & Taylor, D. R. (2014). A recurring syndrome of accelerated plastid genome evolution in the angiosperm tribe Sileneae (Caryophyllaceae). MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION, 72, 82-89. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.12.004

Sloan, D. B., Triant, D. A., Wu, M., & Taylor, D. R. (2014). Cytonuclear Interactions and Relaxed Selection Accelerate Sequence Evolution in Organelle Ribosomes. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 31(3), 673-682. doi:10.1093/molbev/mst259

Fields, P. D., McCauley, D. E., McAssey, E. V., & Taylor, D. R. (2014). Patterns of cyto-nuclear linkage disequilibrium in Silene latifolia: genomic heterogeneity and temporal stability. HEREDITY, 112(2), 99-104. doi:10.1038/hdy.2013.79

McFrederick, Q. S., Roulston, T. H., & Taylor, D. R. (2013). Evolution of conflict and cooperation of nematodes associated with solitary and social sweat bees. INSECTES SOCIAUX, 60(3), 309-317. doi:10.1007/s00040-013-0295-5

2012

McFrederick, Q. S., & Taylor, D. R. (2013). Evolutionary history of nematodes associated with sweat bees. MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION, 66(3), 847-856. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.11.007

Sloan, D. B., Mueller, K., McCauley, D. E., Taylor, D. R., & Storchova, H. (2012). Intraspecific variation in mitochondrial genome sequence, structure, and gene content in Silene vulgaris, an angiosperm with pervasive cytoplasmic male sterility. NEW PHYTOLOGIST, 196(4), 1228-1239. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04340.x

Keller, S. R., Gilbert, K. J., Fields, P. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2012). Bayesian inference of a complex invasion history revealed by nuclear and chloroplast genetic diversity in the colonizing plant, Silene latifolia. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, 21(19), 4721-4734. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05751.x

McFrederick, Q. S., Wcislo, W. T., Taylor, D. R., Ishak, H. D., Dowd, S. E., & Mueller, U. G. (2012). Environment or kin: whence do bees obtain acidophilic bacteria?. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, 21(7), 1754-1768. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05496.x

Sloan, D. B., Alverson, A. J., Chuckalovcak, J. P., Wu, M., McCauley, D. E., Palmer, J. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2012). Rapid Evolution of Enormous, Multichromosomal Genomes in Flowering Plant Mitochondria with Exceptionally High Mutation Rates. PLOS BIOLOGY, 10(1). doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001241

Sloan, D. B., Alverson, A. J., Wu, M., Palmer, J. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2012). Recent Acceleration of Plastid Sequence and Structural Evolution Coincides with Extreme Mitochondrial Divergence in the Angiosperm Genus Silene. GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 4(3), 294-306. doi:10.1093/gbe/evs006

2011

Sloan, D. B., Keller, S. R., Berardi, A. E., Sanderson, B. J., Karpovich, J. F., & Taylor, D. R. (2012). De novo transcriptome assembly and polymorphism detection in the flowering plant Silene vulgaris (Caryophyllaceae). MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, 12(2), 333-343. doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03079.x

2010

Sloan, D. B., Alverson, A. J., Storchova, H., Palmer, J. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2010). Extensive loss of translational genes in the structurally dynamic mitochondrial genome of the angiosperm Silene latifolia. BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 10. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-274

Keller, S. R., & Taylor, D. R. (2010). Genomic admixture increases fitness during a biological invasion. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 23(8), 1720-1731. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02037.x

Sloan, D. B., MacQueen, A. H., Alverson, A. J., Palmer, J. D., & Taylor, D. R. (2010). Extensive Loss of RNA Editing Sites in Rapidly Evolving Silene Mitochondrial Genomes: Selection vs. Retroprocessing as the Driving Force. GENETICS, 185(4), 1369-U358. doi:10.1534/genetics.110.118000

Sloan, D. B., & Taylor, D. R. (2010). Testing for Selection on Synonymous Sites in Plant Mitochondrial DNA: The Role of Codon Bias and RNA Editing. JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION, 70(5), 479-491. doi:10.1007/s00239-010-9346-y

Sloan, D. B., Oxelman, B., Rautenberg, A., & Taylor, D. R. (2010). Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial substitution rate variation in the angiosperm tribe Sileneae (vol 9, pg 260, 2009). BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 10. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-12