William R. Jeffery

Organismal Biology, Experimental Developmental Biology

I am interested in the evolution of development. Several different animals are used in my research. The teleost Astyanax mexicanus is a single species with eyed surface dwelling and blind cave dwelling forms. I want to understand the developmental and evolutionary mechanisms responsible for phenotypic changes in Astyanax cavefish. I am also interested in the ancestry of the neural crest and regeneration in chordates. For this research I use sea squirts (ascidians), especially Ciona intestinalis, which has a completely sequenced genome.

Yoshizawa, M, and W. R. Jeffery Shadow response in the blind cavefish Astyanax mexicanus reveals conservation of a functional pineal eye. J. Exp. Biol. 2008 211: 292-299. Jeffery, W. R. , Chiba, T., Krajka, F. R., Deyts, C., Satoh, N., and and Joly J. S. Trunk lateral cells are neural crest-like cells in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Dev. Biol. 2008 324: 152-160. Yamamoto, Y., Byerly, M. S., Jackman, W. R., and Jeffery, W. R. Pleiotropic functions of embryonic sonic hedgehogexpression link jaw and taste bud amplification with eye loss during cavefish evolution. Dev. Biol. 2009 330: 200-211. Jeffery, W. R. Evolution and development in the cavefish Astyanax. Curr. Top. Dev. Biol. 2008 86: 191-221.

Fellow AAAS, Fellow Linnean Society

Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1971. Evolution of developmental mechanisms in chordates.