Kenneth Olsen

Associate Professor, Department of Biology

Office Contact Information

Office

McDonnell Hall 303

Mailbox

Washington University in St. Louis
Campus Box 1137
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

Phone

(314)935-7013

kolsen@wustl.edu

Websites

Laboratory Website
DBBS
EEPB Program

Research Interests

My research focuses on the genetic basis of evolution in plants: how is the genetic variation that we find within a species shaped by natural selection, population history, and other evolutionary forces? One way that I look at this question is by using crop domestication as a model for rapid evolutionary change. The wealth of genetic and genomic information available for crops makes them useful for studying the molecular evolution of genes in response to selection and other forces. In my lab we also study the evolutionary genetics of wild plant species. Topics of interest include the genetic basis of adaptive variation, the forces affecting genome-wide patterns of linkage disequilibrium, and phylogeography.

Photo caption: Most rice varieties contain the starch amylose, which stains black with iodine (left), while glutinous rice (right) lacks this starch. A single nucleotide mutation at the Waxy gene during the domestication of rice has led to the formation of the glutinous phenotype. This mutation arose initially in Southeast Asia, where glutinous rice remains an important staple food.

Selected Publications

Kooyers, NJ, and KM Olsen (2012). Rapid evolution of an adaptive cyanogenesis cline in introduced North American white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Molecular Ecology, in press.

Gunn, BF, L Baudouin, and KM Olsen (2011). Independent origins of cultivated coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) in the Old World Tropics. PLoS ONE 6: e21143.

Yu, G, KM Olsen, and BA Schaal (2011). Association between nonsynonymous mutations of Starch Synthase IIa and starch quality in rice (Oryza sativa). New Phytologist 189: 593–601.

Lee, S, Y Jia, DR Gealy, M Jia, KM Olsen, and AL Caicedo (2011). Molecular Evolution of the Rice Blast Resistance Gene Pi-ta in Invasive Weedy Rice in the USA. PLoS ONE 6: e26260.

Reagon, M, CS Thurber, KM Olsen, Y Jia, and AL Caicedo (2010) Genomic patterns of nucleotide diversity in divergent populations of invasive U.S. weedy rice. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 180.

Gross, BL and KM Olsen (2010). Genetic perspectives on crop domestication. Trends in Plant Science 15: 529-537.

Gross, BL, FT Steffen, and KM Olsen (2010). Molecular basis of white pericarps in African domesticated rice: Novel mutations at the Rc gene. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 2747–2753.

Yu, G, KM Olsen, and BA Schaal (2010). Molecular evolution of endosperm starch synthesis pathway genes in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and its wild ancestor, O. rufipogon L. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28: 659–671.

Gross BL, Hsu S-C, Caicedo AL, Jia Y, Olsen KM (2010). Seeing red: the origin of grain pigmentation in US weedy rice. Molecular Ecology 19: 3380-3393.

Gross BL, Skare KJ, Olsen KM (2009). Novel Phr1 mutations and the evolution of phenol reaction variation in US weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.). New Phytologist 184: 842–850.

Olsen KM, Hsu S-C, Small LL (2008). Evidence on the molecular basis of the Ac/ac adaptive cyanogenesis polymorphism in white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Genetics 179: 517-526.

Olsen KM, Sutherland BL, Small LL (2007). Molecular evolution of the Li/li chemical defence polymorphism in white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Molecular Ecology 16: 4180-4193.