Reproduction is the primary metric of organismal fitness and, therefore, understanding variation in the mode of reproduction and its effects within and among species constitutes a central theme in biology. Research in the Cutter lab targets this issue in the context of evolutionary genetics, by integrating computational genomic, molecular, theoretical and experimental approaches.

Much of the research in the Cutter lab concentrates on the bacterivorous nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and its relatives as a model. The variation in breeding system among Caenorhabditis species coupled with C. elegans' history as a model organism for genetics, genomics and development provides a powerful, novel system for informing our understanding of the evolution of traits relevant to behavior, physiology and ecology. We are primarily investigating questions relating to (1) understanding what forces confer advantages to self-fertilization versus outbreeding, and (2) how selection, recombination, mutation, and demography shape population genetic and genomic patterns.

Selected Publications