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Professor Mark Blows
Professor

Mark Blows

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 59044

Overview

Background

My research interests are in evolutionary quantitative genetics. Much of my research involves developing multivariate statistical approaches to the analysis of the genetic basis of complex traits, and the selection acting upon them, which are then applied to questions in statistical genetics and evolutionary biology. Many of the empirical studies I conduct use the Australian native model system Drosophila serrata.

Availability

Professor Mark Blows is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, La Trobe University

Works

Search Professor Mark Blows’s works on UQ eSpace

116 works between 1991 and 2023

1 - 20 of 116 works

Featured

2015

Journal Article

Simultaneous estimation of additive and mutational genetic variance in an outbred population of drosophila serrata

McGuigan, Katrina, David Aguirre, J. David and Blows, Mark W. (2015). Simultaneous estimation of additive and mutational genetic variance in an outbred population of drosophila serrata. Genetics, 201 (3), 1239-1251. doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.178632

Simultaneous estimation of additive and mutational genetic variance in an outbred population of drosophila serrata

Featured

2015

Journal Article

The phenome-wide distribution of genetic variance

Blows, Mark W., Allen, Scott L., Collet, Julie M., Chenoweth, Stephen F. and McGuigan, Katrina (2015). The phenome-wide distribution of genetic variance. American Naturalist, 186 (1), 15-30. doi: 10.1086/681645

The phenome-wide distribution of genetic variance

Featured

2015

Journal Article

Dominance genetic variance for traits under directional selection in Drosophila serrata

Sztepanacz, Jacqueline L. and Blows, Mark W. (2015). Dominance genetic variance for traits under directional selection in Drosophila serrata. Genetics, 200 (1), 371-384. doi: 10.1534/genetics.115.175489

Dominance genetic variance for traits under directional selection in Drosophila serrata

Featured

2014

Journal Article

Evolutionary constraints in high-dimensional trait sets

Hine, Emma, McGuigan, Katrina and Blows, Mark W. (2014). Evolutionary constraints in high-dimensional trait sets. American Naturalist, 184 (1), 119-131. doi: 10.1086/676504

Evolutionary constraints in high-dimensional trait sets

2023

Journal Article

Using inbreeding to test the contribution of non-additive genetic effects to additive genetic variance: a case study in Drosophila serrata

Dugand, Robert J., Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2023). Using inbreeding to test the contribution of non-additive genetic effects to additive genetic variance: a case study in Drosophila serrata. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290 (1995) 20222111, 1-10. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2111

Using inbreeding to test the contribution of non-additive genetic effects to additive genetic variance: a case study in Drosophila serrata

2022

Journal Article

Maintenance of quantitative genetic variance in complex, multitrait phenotypes: the contribution of rare, large effect variants in 2 Drosophila species

Hine, Emma, Runcie, Daniel E., Allen, Scott L., Wang, Yiguan, Chenoweth, Stephen F., Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2022). Maintenance of quantitative genetic variance in complex, multitrait phenotypes: the contribution of rare, large effect variants in 2 Drosophila species. Genetics, 222 (2) iyac122, 1-17. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyac122

Maintenance of quantitative genetic variance in complex, multitrait phenotypes: the contribution of rare, large effect variants in 2 Drosophila species

2022

Journal Article

Causes of variability in estimates of mutational variance from mutation accumulation experiments

Conradsen, Cara, Blows, Mark W and McGuigan, Katrina (2022). Causes of variability in estimates of mutational variance from mutation accumulation experiments. Genetics, 221 (2) iyac060, 1-14. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyac060

Causes of variability in estimates of mutational variance from mutation accumulation experiments

2021

Other Outputs

R code and input files required to generate figures and tables for BSFG analysis of standing variance in two Drosophila datasets. This dataset is the current version and supercedes any earlier versions.

Hine, Emma, Runcie, Daniel E. , Allen, Scott L. , Wang, Yiguan , Chenoweth, Stephen F. , Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2021). R code and input files required to generate figures and tables for BSFG analysis of standing variance in two Drosophila datasets. This dataset is the current version and supercedes any earlier versions.. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/a3c5652

R code and input files required to generate figures and tables for BSFG analysis of standing variance in two Drosophila datasets. This dataset is the current version and supercedes any earlier versions.

2021

Other Outputs

Enrichment analysis results for heritable common factors of Drosophila gene expression

Hine, Emma, Runcie, Daniel E., Allen, Scott L., Wang, Yiguan, Chenoweth, Stephen F., Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2021). Enrichment analysis results for heritable common factors of Drosophila gene expression. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/90441fc

Enrichment analysis results for heritable common factors of Drosophila gene expression

2021

Journal Article

The contribution of mutation and selection to multivariate quantitative genetic variance in an outbred population of Drosophila serrata

Dugand, Robert J., Aguirre, J. David, Hine, Emma, Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2021). The contribution of mutation and selection to multivariate quantitative genetic variance in an outbred population of Drosophila serrata. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (31) e2026217118, 1-10. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2026217118

The contribution of mutation and selection to multivariate quantitative genetic variance in an outbred population of Drosophila serrata

2021

Other Outputs

Two Drosophila datasets used in the Bayesian sparse factor analysis of standing genetic variance in 3385 gene expression traits

Hine, Emma , Runcie, Daniel E., Allen, Scott L., Wang, Yiguan, Chenoweth, Stephen F. , Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2021). Two Drosophila datasets used in the Bayesian sparse factor analysis of standing genetic variance in 3385 gene expression traits. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/f3eede4

Two Drosophila datasets used in the Bayesian sparse factor analysis of standing genetic variance in 3385 gene expression traits

2021

Other Outputs

R code used to implement Bayesian sparse factor genetic analysis of Drosophila gene expression.

Hine, Emma, Runcie, Daniel E., Allen, Scott L., Wang, Yiguan, Chenoweth, Stephen F., Blows, Mark W. and McGuigan, Katrina (2021). R code used to implement Bayesian sparse factor genetic analysis of Drosophila gene expression.. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/ec9b92c

R code used to implement Bayesian sparse factor genetic analysis of Drosophila gene expression.

2020

Journal Article

Loss of ecologically important genetic variation in late generation hybrids reveals links between adaptation and speciation

Walter, Greg M., Richards, Thomas J., Wilkinson, Melanie J, Blows, Mark W., Aguirre, J. David and Ortiz‐Barrientos, Daniel (2020). Loss of ecologically important genetic variation in late generation hybrids reveals links between adaptation and speciation. Evolution Letters, 4 (4) evl3.187, 302-316. doi: 10.1002/evl3.187

Loss of ecologically important genetic variation in late generation hybrids reveals links between adaptation and speciation

2018

Journal Article

Uneven distribution of mutational variance across the transcriptome of Drosophila serrata revealed by high-dimensional analysis of gene expression

Hine, Emma, Runcie, Daniel E., McGuigan, Katrina and Blows, Mark W. (2018). Uneven distribution of mutational variance across the transcriptome of Drosophila serrata revealed by high-dimensional analysis of gene expression. Genetics, 209 (4), 1319-1328. doi: 10.1534/genetics.118.300757

Uneven distribution of mutational variance across the transcriptome of Drosophila serrata revealed by high-dimensional analysis of gene expression

2018

Journal Article

Environmentally induced development costs underlie fitness tradeoffs

Walter, Greg M., Wilkinson, Melanie J., Aguirre, J. David, Blows, Mark W. and Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel (2018). Environmentally induced development costs underlie fitness tradeoffs. Ecology, 99 (6), 1391-1401. doi: 10.1002/ecy.2234

Environmentally induced development costs underlie fitness tradeoffs

2018

Journal Article

Mutational pleiotropy and the strength of stabilizing selection within and between functional modules of gene expression

Collet, Julie M., McGuigan, Katrina, Allen, Scott L., Chenoweth, Stephen F. and Blows, Mark W. (2018). Mutational pleiotropy and the strength of stabilizing selection within and between functional modules of gene expression. Genetics, 208 (4), 1601-1616. doi: 10.1534/genetics.118.300776

Mutational pleiotropy and the strength of stabilizing selection within and between functional modules of gene expression

2018

Journal Article

Genotypic covariance between the performance of a resident species and community assembly in the field

Riedel, Arthur M., Monro, Keyne, Blows, Mark W. and Marshall, Dustin J. (2018). Genotypic covariance between the performance of a resident species and community assembly in the field. Functional Ecology, 32 (2), 533-544. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13005

Genotypic covariance between the performance of a resident species and community assembly in the field

2018

Journal Article

Evolution of genetic variance during adaptive radiation

Walter, Greg M., Aguirre, J. David, Blows, Mark W. and Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel (2018). Evolution of genetic variance during adaptive radiation. American Naturalist, 191 (4), E108-E128. doi: 10.1086/696123

Evolution of genetic variance during adaptive radiation

2017

Journal Article

Sexual selection on spontaneous mutations strengthens the between-sex genetic correlation for fitness

Allen, Scott L., McGuigan, Katrina, Connallon, Tim, Blows, Mark W. and Chenoweth, Stephen F. (2017). Sexual selection on spontaneous mutations strengthens the between-sex genetic correlation for fitness. Evolution, 71 (10), 2398-2409. doi: 10.1111/evo.13310

Sexual selection on spontaneous mutations strengthens the between-sex genetic correlation for fitness

2017

Journal Article

Artificial selection to increase the phenotypic variance in gmax fails

Sztepanacz, Jacqueline L. and Blows, Mark W. (2017). Artificial selection to increase the phenotypic variance in gmax fails. American Naturalist, 190 (5), 707-723. doi: 10.1086/693959

Artificial selection to increase the phenotypic variance in gmax fails

Funding

Current funding

  • 2019 - 2024
    The nature of standing genetic variation
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2015 - 2019
    Operation of the Queensland Emory Drug Development Initiative (QEDDI)
    Queensland Government Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2017
    The contribution of pleiotropic mutation to genetic variation and evolution
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2021
    Why does the genetic nearly-null subspace exist?
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    Mutational Genetic Variance and the Fitness Optimum
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2018
    The Geometry of Genetic Limits to Evolutionary Change
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2010
    Genetical Genomics of Mutational Variance
    ARC Future Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    Testing the Limits to Evolution: When and Why does adaptation fail in response to ecological change
    University of Bristol
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Sexual selection and the accumulation of deleterious mutations
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    The Genomic Dimensionality of the Response to Natural Selection
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2005 - 2007
    Multivariate Quantitative Genetics And The Lek Paradox
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2002 - 2003
    Do females prefer males of high genetic quality?
    UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards - DVC(R) Funding
    Open grant
  • 2002 - 2006
    Mapping Speciation Genes
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2001 - 2003
    Adaptation to Environmental Gradients
    La Trobe University
    Open grant
  • 2001
    Genetic Basis of speciation: Mapping Speciation Genes.
    ARC Australian Research Council (Large grants)
    Open grant
  • 2000
    Quantitative genetics in wild populations: Empirical test of a new molecular approach.
    ARC Australian Research Council (Small grants)
    Open grant
  • 2000
    Quantitative Genetics of Environmental Gradients
    UQ External Support Enabling Grant
    Open grant
  • 1999
    Process of speciation via sexual selection
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant
  • 1999
    The genetic basis of incipient speciation
    ARC Australian Research Council (Small grants)
    Open grant
  • 1999 - 2001
    The role of sexual selection in speciation
    ARC Australian Research Council (Large grants)
    Open grant
  • 1998
    Testing evolutionary explanations for species borders using two drosophila species
    James Cook University
    Open grant
  • 1998
    The genetic basis of speciation
    ARC Australian Research Council (Large grants)
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Professor Mark Blows is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Professor Mark Blows directly for media enquiries about:

  • Evolutionary genetics
  • Genetics - quantitative

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