Peter L Morrell

Professor
[email protected]
612-626-5601
544 Borlaug Hall
Education

Ph.D. Claremont Graduate University (1997)
Year Appointed: 2009
Rank: Professor

Areas of Interest

Computational Biology

Research

Evolutionary genetics, plant evolution
Our lab is focused on genetic variation in plants. Two major areas of emphasis include the impact of domestication on patterns of polymorphism in domesticated species and the contribution of recombination to genetic variation and patterns of linkage disequilibrium.

Select Publications

Fang Z, Gonzales AM, Durbin ML, Meyer KKT, Miller BH, Volz KM, Clegg MT, Morrell PL (2013 - in press) Tracing the geographic origin of weedy Ipomoea purpurea (common morning glory) in the Southeastern United States. J Hered doi: 10.1093/jhered/est046

Kantar MB, Betts K, Michno J-MS, Luby JJ, Morrell PL, Hulke BS, Stupar RM, Wyse DL (2013 - in press) Evaluating an interspecific Helianthus annuus x Helianthus tuberosus population for use in a perennial sunflower breeding program. Field Crops Research 

Mascher M, Richmond TA, Gerhardt DJ, Himmelbach A, Clissold L, Sampath D, Ayling S, Steuernagel B, Pfeifer M, D’Ascenzo M, Akhunov ED, Hedley P, Gonzales AM, Morrell PL, Kilian B, Blattner FR, Scholz U, Mayer KFX, Flavell AJ, Muehlbauer GJ, Waugh R, Jeddeloh JA, Stein N (2013) Barley whole exome capture: a new tool for genomic research in the genus Hordeum and beyond. The Plant Journal

Cavanagh CR, Chao S, Wang S, Huang BE, Stephen S, Kiani S, Forrest K, Saintenac C, Brown-Guedira GL, Akhunova A, See D, Bai G, Pumphrey M, Tomar L, Wong D, Kong S, Reynolds M, da Silva ML, Bockelman H, Talbert L, Anderson JA, Dreisigacker S, Baenziger S, Carter A, Korzun V, Morrell PL, Dubcovsky J, Morell MK, Sorrells ME, Hayden MJ, Akhunov E (2013) Genome-wide comparative diversity uncovers multiple targets of selection for improvement in hexaploid wheat landraces and cultivars. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110: 8057-8062.

Gonzales AM, Fang Z, Durbin ML, Meyer KK, Clegg MT, Morrell PL (2012) Nucleotide sequence diversity of floral pigment genes in Mexican populations of Ipomoea purpurea (morning glory) accord with a neutral model of evolution. J Hered 103: 863-872.

Hufford MB, Xu X, van Heerwaarden J, Pyhajarvi T, Chia JM, Cartwright RA, Elshire RJ, Glaubitz JC, Guill KE, Kaeppler SM, Lai J, Morrell PL, Shannon LM, Song C, Springer NM, Swanson-Wagner RA, Tiffin P, Wang J, Zhang G, Doebley J, McMullen MD, Ware D, Buckler ES, Yang S, Ross-Ibarra J (2012) Comparative population genomics of maize domestication and improvement. Nat Genet 44: 808-811.

Fang Z, Pyhäjärvi T, Weber AL, Dawe RK, Glaubitz JC, Sanchez Gonzalez JD, Ross-Ibarra C, Doebley J, Morrell PL, Ross-Ibarra J (2012) Megabase-scale inversion polymorphism in the wild ancestor of maize. Genetics 191: 883-894.

Yi, T and Morrell, PL (in press). Introduction of major exotic economic plants. In: Hong, D and Blackmore, S (eds.). Plants of China.

Morrell PL, Buckler ES, Ross-Ibarra J (2012) Crop genomics: advances and applications. Nat Rev Genet 13: 85-96.

Morrell, PL and Clegg, MT 2011. Hordeum in Wild Crop Relatives–Genomic and Breeding Resources: Legume Crops and Forages, edited by C. Kole, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Akhunov ED, Akhunova AR, Anderson OD, Anderson JA, Blake N et al. (2010) Nucleotide diversity maps reveal variation in diversity among wheat genomes and chromosomes. BMC Genomics 11: 702.

Chen HF, Morrell PL, Toleno DM, Lundy KE, Clegg MT (2010) Allele-specific PCR can improve the efficiency of experimental resolution of heterozygotes in resequencing studies. Mol Ecol Resour 10: 647-658.

Aguilar-Melendez A, Morrell PL, Roose ML, Kim SC (2009) Genetic diversity and structure in semiwild and domesticated chiles (Capsicum annuum; Solanaceae) from Mexico. Am J Bot 96: 1190-1202.

Chen HF, Morrell PL, Ashworth VE, de la Cruz M, Clegg MT (2009) Tracing the geographic origins of major avocado cultivars. J Hered 100: 56-65.

Luo MC, Deal KR, Akhunov ED, Akhunova AR, Anderson OD et al. (2009) Genome comparisons reveal a dominant mechanism of chromosome number reduction in grasses and accelerated genome evolution in Triticeae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106: 15780-15785.

Chen H, Morrell PL, de la Cruz M, Clegg MT (2008) Nucleotide diversity and linkage disequilibrium in wild avocado (Persea americana Mill.). J Hered 99: 382-389.

Ross-Ibarra J, Morrell PL, Gaut BS (2007) Colloquium Papers: Plant domestication, a unique opportunity to identify the genetic basis of adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104 Suppl 1: 8641-8648.

Morrell PL, Clegg MT (2007) Genetic evidence for a second domestication of barley (Hordeum vulgare) east of the Fertile Crescent. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104: 3289-3294.

Toleno DM, Morrell PL, Clegg MT (2007) Error detection in SNP data by considering the likelihood of recombinational history implied by three-site combinations. Bioinformatics 23: 1807-1814.

Morrell PL, Toleno DM, Lundy KE, Clegg MT (2006) Estimating the contribution of mutation, recombination and gene conversion in the generation of haplotypic diversity. Genetics 173: 1705-1723.

Morrell PL, Williams-Coplin TD, Lattu AL, Bowers JE, Chandler JM et al. (2005) Crop-to-weed introgression has impacted allelic composition of johnsongrass populations with and without recent exposure to cultivated sorghum. Mol Ecol 14: 2143-2154.

Morrell PL, Toleno DM, Lundy KE, Clegg MT (2005) Low levels of linkage disequilibrium in wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) despite high rates of self-fertilization. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102: 2442-2447.