Professor;
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1993
Graduate faculty status

Research and Professional Interests:

Organisms are enormously genetically diverse. Even traits subject to strong natural selection, such as fertility, longevity, and reproductive behavior, can vary greatly among individuals even within a single population, and much of this variation can be heritable. We strive to understand why so much genetic variation persists for traits under strong selection and also to understand the consequences of this diversity for individuals, species, and communities. Members of the lab are studying the genetic, genomic, and evolutionary determinants of life span; the ecological genetics of sexual selection and mate choice; and genetic and nongenetic modifiers of aggressive behavior. We use many different experimental organisms, including fruit flies, guppies, and mosquito fish, and a diversity of techniques, including quantitative genetics and genomics, molecular kinship analysis, and field experiments.

Bushey, D., K. A. Hughes, G. Tononi, and C. Cirelli. 2010. Sleep, aging, and lifespan in Drosophila. BMC Neuroscience 11:56.

Johnson, A. M., G. Chappel, A. C. Price, F. H. Rodd, R. Olendorf and K. A. Hughes. 2010. Inbreeding depression and inbreeding avoidance in a natural population of guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Ethology 118:448-457.

Hughes, K. A. 2010. Mutation and the evolution of ageing: from biometrics to systems genetics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 365:1273-1279.

Hampton, K. J., K. A. Hughes, and A. E. Houde. 2009. The allure of the distinctive: reduced sexual responsiveness of female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to redundant male colour patterns. Ethology 115:475-481.

Ruedi, E. A., and K. A. Hughes. 2008. Natural genetic variation in the courtship repertoire of male Drosophila melanogaster. Behavior Genetics 38:424-436.

Reynolds, R. M. S. Temiyasathit, M. M. Reedy, E. A. Ruedi, J. M. Drnevich, J. Leips, and K. A. Hughes. 2007. Age-specificity of segregating variation and implications for evolution of mortality plateaus. Genetics 177:587-595.

Remolina, S. C., D. Hafez, G. E. Robinson, and K. A. Hughes. 2007. Senescence in the worker honey bee Apis mellifera. Journal of Insect Physiology 57:1027-1033.

Hughes, K. A., and J. Leips. 2006. Quantitative trait locus analysis of male mating success and sperm competition in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 60: 1427-1434.

Hughes, K. A., J. Ayroles, M. Reedy, J. Drnevich, E. A. Ruedi, K. Rowe, C. Caceres, and K. Paige. 2006. Segregating variation in the transcriptome: cis regulation and additivity of effects. Genetics 173:1347-1355.

Olendorf, R., F. H. Rodd, D. Punzalan, A. E. Houde, C. Hurt, D. N. Reznick, and K. A. Hughes. 2006. Frequency-dependent survival in natural guppy populations. Nature 441:633-636.

Graduate Students:

Janowitz, Ilana
Kraft, Brittany
Ren, Yingxue

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