Phone: (413) 585-3825
Office: Burton Hall 201
Email: lkatz@email.smith.edu
Website:

Courses:

 

Bio 110 Origins

Bio 152 Genetics, Genomics & Evolution

Bio 154 Biodiversity, Ecology & Conservation

Bio  270 Microbiolal Eukaryotes

Bio  351 Genome Evolution

          Bio  507 Graduate Seminar

Research Interests:

Work in the Katzlab aims to elucidate principles of eukaryotic
evolution through phylogenetic reconstruction, community sampling and
analyses of genome evolution. The bulk of eukaryotic diversity is
microbial, with plants, animals and fungi representing only three of
some 60-200 lineages of eukaryotes. Many of these microbial lineages
are understudied, yet the limited data available suggest the
eukaryotic microbes challenge established principles in biology.

We are currently focusing on four aspects of the evolution of
eukaryotic microbes:

1. Assembling the Eukaryotic Tree of Life through Analyses of
    Eukaryotic Microbes
2. Phylogeography of Coastal Choreotrich and Oligotrich Ciliates
3. Molecular Systematics of Ciliates
4. Genome Evolution in Ciliates

Representative Publications (since 2004; * = undergraduate author, # = graduate author)

*Robinson, T. and L.A. Katz.  In Press. Non-Mendelian inheritance of two cytoskeletal genes in the ciliate Chilodonella uncinata.  Mol. Biol. Evol.  doi:10.1093/molbev/msm203.

Costas, B, G. McManus, M. Doherty and L.A. Katz.  2007.  Use of species-specific primers and PCR to measure the distributions of planktonic ciliates in coastal waters.  Limnol. Oceanog.: Methods 5: 163-173.

Doherty, M., B. Costas, G.B. McManus and L.A. Katz.  2007.  Culture-independent assessment of planktonic ciliate diversity in coastal northwest Atlantic waters.  Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 48: 141-154.

McGrath, *C., R. A. Zufall and L.A. Katz. 2007.  Variation in macronuclear genome content of three ciliates with extensive chromosomal fragmentation: a preliminary analysis. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 54: 242-246.

Tekle, Y.I., J.R. Grant, O.R. Anderson, J.C. Cole, T. Nerad, D.J. Patterson and L.A. Katz.  2007.  A multigene analysis of Corallomyxa tenera sp. nov. suggests its membership in a clade that include Gromia, Haplosporidia and Foraminifera.  Protist

Zufall, R.A. and L.A. Katz.  2007.  Micronuclear and macronuclear forms of β-tubulin genes in the ciliate Chilodonella uncinata reveal insights into genome processing and protein evolution.  J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 54: 275-282.

Katz, L.A., O.L.O. Snoeyenbos-West and F. P. Doerder. 2006.  Patterns of protein evolution in Tetrahymena thermophila: Implications for estimates of effective population size.  Mol. Biol. Evol. 23: 608-614.

Parfrey, L.W., E. *Barbero, E. *Lasser, M.S. Dunthorn, D. Bhattacharya, D.J. Patterson and L.A. Katz.  2006.  Evaluating support for the current classification of eukaryotic diversity.  PLOS Genetics 2: 2062-2073.

Zufall, R.A., *C. McGrath, S. Muse and L.A. Katz.  2006.   Genome architecture drives protein evolution in ciliates.  Mol. Biol. Evol. 23: 1681-1687.

Katz, L.A., G. B. McManus, O.L.O. Snoeyenbos-West, *K. Pirog, *A. Griffin, and W. Foissner. 2005.  Reframing the Microbial 'Everything is Everywhere' Debate: evidence for high gene flow and diversity in ciliate morphospecies.  Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 41: 55-65.

Zufall, R.A., *T. Robinson and L.A. Katz.  2005.  Evolution of developmentally regulated genome rearrangements in eukaryotes.  J. Exp. Zool. Part B. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 304B: 448-455.

Katz, L.A., *E. Lasek-Nesselquist, J. Bornstein and S.V. Muse.  2004. Dramatic diversity of histone H4 sequences in ciliates.  Mol. Biol. Evol. 21: 555-562.

*McGrath, C. and L.A. Katz.  2004. Genome diversity in microbial eukaryotes.  Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 32-38.

Snoeyenbos-West, O.L.O., *A. Campbell, J. Cole, D.W. Coats and L.A. Katz.  2004.  Molecular phylogeny of phyllopharyngean ciliates and their group I introns.  J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 51: 441-450.

Katz, L.A., ^*E. Lasek-Nesselquist, ^#J. Bornstein and S.V. Muse. 2004. Dramatic diversity of histone H4 sequences in ciliates. Mol Biol Evol.

^*McGrath, C. and L.A. Katz. 2004. Genome diversity in microbial eukaryotes. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 32-38.