Rita M. Graze headshot
Rita M. Graze
Department of Biological Sciences
Associate Professor


Office: 305 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.

Address: 101 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.
Auburn University, AL 36849

Phone: (334) 844-1687

Fax: (334) 844-1645

Email: rmg0022@auburn.edu

Website


Education
Postdoctoral Fellow - University of Florida, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
2012
Ph.D. - University of California Davis, Genetics
2007
B.A. - University of Santa Cruz, Biology - Ecology and Evolution
1998


Research and Teaching Interests

My research addresses functional genomic, quantitative genetic and evolutionary questions, with a focus on the role of gene regulation. These research areas inform one another. Functional genomic studies help us understand how the links between genotype and phenotype shape variability within species and the evolution of species differences. Conversely, by studying genetic variation in complex traits within populations and in different species, we are better able to build predictive genotype to phenotype maps for these traits. I use Drosophila as a model system and a variety of transgenic and genomic experimental techniques, as well as statistical and bioinformatics analyses, are employed.


Selected Publications

  1. León-Novelo, L. G., McIntyre, L. M., Fear, J. M., & Graze, R.M. 2014. A flexible Bayesian method for detecting allelic imbalance in RNA-seq data. BMC Genomics 15:920. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-920 

  2. Graze, R.M., McIntyre, L. M., Morse, A. M., Boyd, B. M., Nuzhdin, S. V., & Wayne, M. L. 2014. What the X Has to Do with It: Differences in Regulatory Variability between the Sexes in Drosophila simulans. Genome Biology and Evolution, 6:818-829. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evu060

  3. Jensen, K., Sanchez-Garcia, J., Williams, C., Khare, S., Mathur, K., Graze, R.M., et al. 2013. Purification Of Transcripts And Metabolites From Drosophila Heads. J. Vis. Exp. 15:e50245. doi: 10.3791/50245.

  4. Graze, R.M., Novelo, L.L., Amin, V., Fear, J. M., Casella, G., Nuzhdin, S.V., and McIntyre, L.M. 2012. Allelic imbalance in Drosophila hybrid heads: exons, isoforms and evolution. Mol Biol Evol. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msr318.

  5. Yang, Y., Graze, R.M., Walts, B.M., Lopez, C.M., Baker, H.V., Wayne, M.L., Nuzhdin, S.V., and McIntyre, L.M. 2011. Partitioning Transcript Variation in Drosophila: Abundance, Isoforms and Alleles. G3 1:427-436.

  6. Graze, R.M., McIntyre, L.M., Main, B.J., Wayne, M.L., and Nuzhdin, S.V. 2009. Regulatory divergence inDrosophila melanogaster and D. simulans, a genome-wide analysis of allele specific expression. Genetics 183:547-561.

  7. Main, B.J., Bickel, R.D., McIntyre, L.M., Graze, R.M., Calabrase, P.P., and Nuzhdin, S.V. 2009. Allele-specific expression assays using Solexa. BMC Genomics 10:422. 

  8. Graze, R.M., Barmina, O., Tufts, D., Naderi, E., Harmon, K.L., Persianinova, M., and Nuzhdin, S.V. 2007. New candidate genes for sex comb divergence between Drosophila mauritiana and Drosophila simulans. Genetics 176:2561–2576.

Google Scholar Page


Courses
Undergraduate Graduate
Genetics - BIOL3000
Gene Expression and rDNA Lab - BIOL5521
Gene Expression and rDNA Lab - BIOL6521




Last updated: 10/05/2021