Professor Ph.D. (2006) Duke University A fundamental goal of evolutionary biology is to explain how populations become reproductively isolated species. Does speciation occur in allopatry or do populations diverge in the presence of some gene flow? What is the genetic basis of reproductive isolation? What are the evolutionary forces that create and maintain variation in speciation genes? Our research tackles these questions in a new model system: the Mimulus guttatus species complex, a group of closely related, ecologically diverse wildflowers that exhibit tremendous variation in reproductive isolation between populations and species. We use a range of approaches – from field and greenhouse experiments to genetic mapping and bioinformatics – to investigate the genetic mechanisms and evolutionary dynamics of speciation. We are currently supported by "EDGE: Enabling functional genomics in monkeyflowers (Mimulus)", NSF, with Y. Yuan and W. Parrott. "RoL: Rapid Evolution of Reproductive Isolation via Hybrid Seed Lethality in Mimulus", NSF, with J. Willis, R. Franks, and J. Sobel. Research Research Areas: Evolutionary Genetics Selected Publications Selected Publications: Flagel, L. E., Blackman, B. K., Fishman, L., Monnahan, P. J., Sweigart, A. L., and Kelly, J.K. 2019. GOOGA: A a platform to synthesize mapping experiments and identify genomic structural diversity. PLoS Computational Biology 15: e1006949. Sweigart, A. L., Brandvain, Y., and Fishman, L. 2019. Making a murderer: on the evolutionary framing of hybrid killers. Trends in Genetics 35: 245-252. Zuellig M. P. and Sweigart, A. L. 2018. A two-locus hybrid incompatibility is widespread, polymorphic, and active in natural populations of Mimulus. Evolution, 72: 2394-2405. Zuellig, M.P. and Sweigart, A.L., 2018. Gene duplicates cause hybrid lethality between sympatric species of Mimulus. PLoS Genetics, 14(4), p.e1007130. Fishman, L. and Sweigart, A.L., 2018. When Two Rights Make a Wrong: The Evolutionary Genetics of Plant Hybrid Incompatibilities. Annual Review of Plant Biology. Kerwin, R. E., and Sweigart, A.L., 2017. Mechanisms of transmission ratio distortion at hybrid sterility loci within and between Mimulus species. G3 7: 3719-3730. Garner A. G., Kenney, A. M., Fishman, L., Sweigart, A. L. 2016. Genetic loci with parent of origin effects cause hybrid seed lethality between Mimulus species. New Phytologist 211: 319-331. Kenney A. M., Sweigart, A. L. 2016. Reproductive isolation and introgression between sympatric Mimulus species. Molecular Ecology 25: 2499-2517. Ahmed-Braimah, Y. H. and A. L. Sweigart. 2015. A single gene causes an interspecific difference in pigmentation in Drosophila. Genetics 200: 331-342. Sweigart, A. L. and L. E. Flagel. 2015. Evidence of natural selection acting on a polymorphic hybrid incompatibility locus in Mimulus. Genetics 199: 543-554. Brandvain, Y.*, A. M. Kenney*, L. Flagel, G. Coop†, and A. L. Sweigart†. 2014. Speciation and introgression between Mimulus nasutus and Mimulus guttatus. PLoS Genetics 10: e1004410. Zuellig, M. P., A. M. Kenney, A. L. Sweigart. 2014. Evolutionary genetics of plant adaptation: insights from new model systems. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 18: 44-50. Fishman, L., A. L. Sweigart, A. M. Kenney, S. Campbell. 2014. Major QTLs control divergence in critical photoperiod for flowering between selfing and outcrossing species of monkeyflower (Mimulus). New Phytologist 201: 1498-1507. Sweigart, A. L. and J. H. Willis, 2012. Molecular evolution and genetics of postzygotic reproductive isolation in plants. F1000 Biology Reports 4:23.
