John McKay
Plant Genetics
Professor
Office: C206 Plant Sciences
Lab: E112 Plant Sciences
John.McKay@ColoState.edu
970-491-5730 office
970-491-0259 lab
Research Interests:
We seek an understanding of the genetic basis of traits involved in adaptation to particular stresses (e.g. drought) for both applied (crop breeding, conservation, invasive species) and theoretical questions in ecology and evolution. Are adaptations due to: many genetic changes or only a few? New mutations or older alleles that persist at some frequency throughout the species range and history?
Courses I Teach:
526: Evolutionary Ecology
BIOL571: Molecular and Genomic Evolution
ECOL592: Interdisciplinary Seminars
Selected Publications:
J Ågren, CG Oakley, JK McKay, JT Lovell, DW Schemske. Genetic mapping of adaptation reveals fitness trade-offs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DL Des Marais, L C Auchincloss, E Sukamtoh, JK McKay, T Logan, JH Richards, TE Juenger. Variation at MPK12 affects water use efficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana and reveals a pleiotropic link between guard cell size and ABA response. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
HM Easlon, KS Nemali, JH Richards, DT Hanson, TE Juenger, JK McKay. 2013. The physiological basis for genetic variation in water use efficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana. Photosynthesis Research.
JT Lovell, TE Juenger, SD Michaels, JR Lasky, A Platt, JH Richards, X Yu, HM Easlon, S Sen, JK McKay. 2013. Pleiotropy of FRIGIDA enhances the potential for multivariate adaptation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
J-N Enjalbert, S Zheng, JJ Johnson, JL Mullen, PF Byrne, JK McKay. 2013. Brassicaceae germplasm diversity for agronomic and seed quality traits under drought stress. Industrial Crops and Products 47: 176-185.
KJ Rice, JD Gerlach, AR Dyer, JK McKay. 2013. Evolutionary ecology along invasion fronts of the annual grass Aegilops triuncialis. Biological Invasions.
RS Fletcher, JL Mullen, S Yoder, WL Bauerle, G Reuning, S Sen, E Meyer, TE Juenger, JK McKay. 2013. Development of a next-generation NIL library in Arabidopsis thaliana for dissecting complex traits. BMC Genomics.
Lowry, D. B., T. L. Logan, L. Santuari, C. S. Hardtke, J. H. Richards, L. J. DeRose-Wilson, J. K. McKay, S. Sen, T. E. Juenger. 2013. Expression QTL mapping across water availability environments reveals contrasting associations with genomic features in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell.