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For Prospective Students or Postdoctoral Researchers
Curriculum vita
Miscellaneous links
Bioinformatics links
My wife's home page (Julia Krushkal)
Affiliations
Children's Foundation Research Center
Center of Genomics and Bioinformatics
University of Tennessee - Memphis |
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The research in my laboratory centers on the genetics of fetal growth
regulation in humans and mice, preeclampsia, genomics of the
growth hormone locus, and systematics of mammals. My initial
background was in molecular evolution where I learned the suite of techniques
that are now more commonly referred to as bioinformatics. I employ
those analytical methods to discern the role genes play in health and
development and in the evolution of mammals.
Genetic Basis of Fetal Growth Restriction
Although there are many environmental causes for fetal growth restriction
(FGR), it is clear that genetics accounts for at least a quarter of
the variation normally observed in human birth weight. I am taking a multi-pronged
approach to studying the genetics of fetal growth regulation. Based on
my own research and published research, I have identified a set of
candidate genes for idiopathic intrauterine growth restriction
(IUGR). In collaboration with a team of obstetrician/gynecologists and genetic epidemiologists we are recruiting subjects in Memphis TN (Regional Medical Center), Jackson MS (University of Mississippi; Drs. John Morrison and Chad Klauser), and Portsmouth VA (Naval Medical Center; Drs. Everett (Pat) Magann and Amy Niederhauser). We are genotyping tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (tag SNPS) in mothers and newborns to identify haplotypes and genomic regions exhibiting association with reduced birth weight. Additionally, we are collecting a large suite of additional data on anthropometric, medical, sociodemographic, and psychosocial traits of the mothers and newborns.
Genomics of the Human Growth Hormone Locus
Due to my years of research on the evolution and genomic structure of
the primate growth hormone locus, a portion of my effort is devoted to
understanding the role the various genes of the human growth hormone locus
play in FGR. The human growth hormone locus contains five closely-related
genes - two for growth hormone genes and three for chorionic somatomammotropin
(placental lactogen). All of these genes are tandemly arranged on
the same chromosome over a span of about 46,000 nucleotides. Four of these
genes are expressed only in the placenta and their encoded proteins play
a significant role in stimulating fetal growth and facilitating nutrient
availability to the fetus. Additionally, the locus is undergoing a myriad
of unique genetic processes, including gene conversion, unequal recombination,
functional divergence, and accelerated change. My laboratory is identifying
single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and major lesions in the growth
hormone locus and determining their association with fetal size at term.
We are also studying the origin of this unique locus, the underlying basis
for the functional divergence of the proteins, and the rate of spontaneous
mutation in humans.
Molecular Systematics of Rodents
I am also engaged in an NSF-funded project to determine the molecular systematics (evolutionary relationships) of the large rodent family Muridae (~25% of all mammals). These studies involve sequencing biomedically important
genes, for example the growth hormone receptor (GHR) and those
associated with cancer (BRCA1), and a portion of the mitochondrial genome (cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COII) and flanking genes). We have selected over 250 species of murid rodents from all of the subfamilies in order to estimate the evolutionary tree and to estimate divergence dates and biogeographic history.
PUBLICATIONS
- Adkins, R. M., McBee, K., Porter, C. A., Baker, R. J. 1991. Breakdown in a hybrid zone of Peromyscus leucopus and examination of the recombinational breakdown model. J. Mamm. 72:535-541.
- Adkins, R. M., and Honeycutt, R. L. 1991. A molecular phylogeny of the superorder Archonta. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 88:10317-10321.
- Adkins, R. M., and Honeycutt, R. L. 1993. A molecular examination of archontan and chiropteran monophyly, pp. 227-250. In Primates and their relatives in phylogenetic perspective (R. D. MacPhee and J. G. Fleagle, eds.) Plenum, New York.
- Honeycutt, R. L., and Adkins, R. M. 1993. Higher level systematics of eutherian mammals: an assessment of molecular characters and phylogenetic hypotheses. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 24:279-305.
- Adkins, R. M., and Honeycutt, R. L. 1994. Evolution of the primate cytochrome c oxidase subunit II gene. J. Mol. Evol. 38:215-231.
- Miyamoto, M. M., Allard, M. W., Adkins, R. M., Janecek, L. L., and Honeycutt, R. L. 1994. A congruence test of reliability using linked mitochondrial DNA sequences. Syst. Biol. 43:236-249.
- Honeycutt, R. L., Nedbal, M. A., and Adkins, R. M. 1995. Mammalian mitochondrial DNA evolution: a comparison of the cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase II genes. J. Mol. Evol. 40:260-272
- Janecek, L. L., Honeycutt, R. L., Adkins, R. M., and Davis, S. K. 1996. Mitochondrial gene sequences and the molecular systematics of the artiodactyl subfamily bovinae. Mol. Phylo. and Evol. 6:107-119.
- Adkins, R. M., Honeycutt, R.L., and Disotell, T. R. 1996. Evolution of eutherian cytochrome c oxidase subunit II: heterogeneous rates of protein evolution and altered interaction with cytochrome c. Mol. Biol. Evol. 13:1393-1404.
- Bradley, R. D., Adkins, R. M., Honeycutt, R. L., and McDonald, J. H. 1998. Nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of pocket gophers, genus Geomys. Mol. Biol. Evol. 15:709-717.
- Adkins, R. M., and Li, W.-H. 1998. Horizontal Gene Transfer. Dating the age of the last common ancestor of all living organisms with a protein clock. New York: Chapman and Hall. 12 pp. (Revised and second edition publication pending)
- Adkins, R. M., Vandeberg, J., and Li, W.-H. 2000. Molecular evolution of growth hormone and receptor in the guinea pig, a mammal unresponsive to growth hormone. Gene. 246: 357-363.
- Adkins, R. M., Nekrutenko, A. and Li, W.-H. 2001. Bushbaby growth hormone is much more similar to nonprimate growth hormones than to rhesus monkey and human growth hormones. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 18:55-60.
- Madsen, O., Scally, M., Douady, C. J., Kao, D. J., DeBry, R. W., Adkins, R., Amrine, H. M., Stanhope, M. J., de Jong, W. W., and Springer, M. S. 2001. Parallel adaptive radiations in two major clades of placental mammals. Nature. 409:610-613.
- Liu, J.-C., Makova, K. D., Adkins, R. M., Gibson, S., and Li, W.-H. 2001. Molecular coevolution of growth hormone and its receptor in primates. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 18: 945-953.
- Adkins, R. M., Gelke, E., Rowe, D., and Honeycutt, R. L. 2001. Molecular phylogeny and divergence time estimates for major rodent groups: evidence from multiple genes. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 18:777-791.
- Adkins, R. M. 2003. Molecular coevolution. In Nature encyclopedia of the human genome. (D. Cooper, ed.) Nature Publishing Group, London. 5159 pp.
- Malia, M. J., Adkins, R. M., and Allard, M. W. 2002. Molecular support for Afrotheria and the polyphyly of Lipotyphla based on analyses of the growth hormone receptor gene. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 24: 91-101.
- Adkins, R. M., Walton, A. H., and Honeycutt, R. L. 2003. Higher-Level Systematics of Rodents and Divergence Time Estimates Based on Two Highly Congruent Nuclear Genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 26:409-20.
- Tucker, P. K., Adkins, R. M., and Rest, J. S. 2003. Differential Rates of Evolution for the ZFY-related zinc finger genes, Zfy, Zfx, and Zfa in the mouse genus Mus. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 20:999-1005.
- Steppan, S., Adkins, R. M., and Anderson, J. 2004. Phylogeny and Divergence Date Estimates of Murid Rodents Based on Multiple Nuclear Genes. Systematic Biology. 53:533-553.
- Adkins, R. M. 2004. Comparison of the Accuracy of Methods of Computational Haplotype Inference Using a Large Empirical Dataset. BMC Genetics. 5:22.
- Adkins, R. M., Campese, C., Vaidya, R., and Boyd, T. K. 2005. Association Between Fetal Growth Restriction and Polymorphisms At Sites –1 and +3 of Pituitary Growth Hormone: a Case-Control Study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 5:2
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