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Grace Wyngaard

Grace Wyngaard

Professor of Biology

B.S. - University of Rhode Island 
M.S. - University of South Florida 
Ph.D. - University of Maryland 

E-mail - wyngaaga@jmu.edu
Phone - 540-568-6668
Fax - 540-568-3333
Office - Bioscience 1028A

Office Hours    |    Personal web page

Courses:   Organisms (BIO 114), Biometrics (BIO 454/554), Marine and Freshwater Invertebrates (BIO 409), Scientific Perspectives (GSCI 104)

Research Interests:  Genome reorganization, chromatin diminution, and molecular systematics in copepods

Ongoing project areas in my laboratory include:

  • Role of transposable elements in genome reorganization of copepods
  • Molecular systematics and cryptic speciation in Cyclops (Crustacea: Copepoda)
  • Molecular systematics of marine and freshwater cyclopoid copepods
  • Quantitative behavior of DNA during development in Mesocyclops edax (Crustacea: Copepoda)
  • Evolution of genome size

Selected publications related to chromatin diminution, cryptic species and phylogeny:   

Wyngaard, G.A., Rasch, E.M, and B. Connelly. 2011. Unusual augmentation of germline genome size in Cyclops kolensis (Crustacea, Copepoda): further evidence in support of a revised model of chromatin diminution. Chromosome Research, 19(7):  911– 923, (DOI 10.1007/s10577-011-9234-3).

Bron, J.E., D. Frisch, E. Goetze, S.C. Johnson, C.E. Lee and G. A. Wyngaard. 2011. Observing copepods through a genomic lens. Frontiers in Zoology. 8:22 (doi:10.1186/1742-9994-8-22).

Wyngaard, G.A., C.E.F. Rocha, and A. Pepato. 2011. Familial level phylogeny of free-living cyclopoids (Crustacea: Copeoda), inferred from partial 18S ribosomal DNA.  In: (D. Defaye, E.M. Suárez-Morales and J.C. von Vaupel Klein, eds.) Studies on Freshwater Copepoda: a Volume in Honour of Bernard Dussart . Crustaceana Monographs, 16: 507 – 544.

Wyngaard, G. A., Maria Holyńska, and J. A. Schulte II.  2010. Phylogeny of the freshwater copepods Mesocyclops(Crustacea: Cyclopidae) based on combined molecular and morphological data, with notes on biogeography.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 60 (2): 37 – 46.

Rasch, E.M. and G. A. Wyngaard. 2008. Heterochromatin endoreduplication prior to gametogenesis and chromatin diminution during early embryogenesis in Mesocyclops edax (Copepoda: Crustacea). Journal of Morphology, 269(4): 387-397.

Rasch, E.M. and G.A. Wyngaard 2008. Endopolyploidy in cyclopoid copepods. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 28 (2): 412-416.

Rasch, E.M. and G. A. Wyngaard. 2008. Gonomery and chromatin diminution in Mesocyclops longisetus (Copepoda). Journal of Crustacean Biology 28 (1): 180-184.

Suarez-Morales, E., G. A. Wyngaard, M. A Gutierrez-Aguirre and J Costanzo*. 2007. Life history traits of Mesocyclops thermocyclopoides Harada, 1931 (Copepoda, Cyclopoida) with observations on naupliar morphology. Crustaceana, 80(10): 1205-1222.

Grishanin, A.K., E.M. Rasch, S.I. Dodson, and G.A. Wyngaard. 2006. Genetic architecture of the cryptic speices complex of Acanthocyclops vernalis (Crustacea: Copepoda) II. Crossbreeding experiments, cytogenetics and a model of chromosomal evolution. Evolution 60: 37-46.

Rasch, E.M. and G.A. Wyngaard. 2006. Genome sizes of cyclopoid copepods (Crustacea): Evidence of evolutionary constraint. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 87: 625-635.

Rasch, E.M. and G.A. Wyngaard. 2006. Changes in nuclear morphology associated with elevated DNA levels during gametogenesis in cyclopoid copepod with chromatin diminution. Invertebrate Biology 125: 63-75.

Rasch, E.M, C.E. Lee, and G.A. Wyngaard. 2004. DNA-Feulgen cytophotometric determination  of genome size for the freshwater invading copepod Eurytemora affinis.  Genome 47: 559 – 564.

Dodson, S.I., A.K. Grishanin, K. Gross, and G.A. Wyngaard  2003. Morphological analysis of some cryptic species in the Acanthocyclops vernalis complex from North America.  Hydrobiologia 500: 131 – 143.

Rasch, E.M. and G.A. Wyngaard. Evidence for Endoreduplication: Germ Cell DNA Levels Prior to Chromatin Diminution in Mesocyclops edax. Molecular and Developmental Evolution – The Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry 49: 795 – 796.

Wyngaard, G.A and E. M. Rasch.  Patterns of genome size in the Copepoda: in: Alekseev, V., 2000. G.A. Wyngaard, and F. Ferrari (eds). Advances in Copepod Taxonomy: A Tribute to Ulrich Einsle. Hydrobiologia 417: 43 – 56.