Logan Havard

Graduate Student

Recombination continually erodes associations between alleles due to meiotic crossing-over between homologous chromosomes. This shuffling of alleles controls haplotype size and ultimately how populations respond to evolutionary forces. Despite recombination’s prevalence among sexually reproducing organisms, meiotic recombination rates vary widely by taxa, population, and even across individual genomes. As a result, detailing recombination rate landscapes can elucidate how constraints on haplotype responses to evolutionary forces shape variation in populations. I am broadly interested in using and developing computational methods to answer questions in evolutionary genetics. Co-advised by Dr. Stevison and Dr. Matthew Wolak, I am developing an LD-based recombination map of the Mississippi diamond-backed terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin pileata) to better characterize the recombination rate landscape in turtles. With over half of extant turtle species threatened with extinction, understanding recombination is key to understanding how genetic variation is maintained in turtle populations and directly informs conservation efforts.