Camille Barr

Postdoctoral Researcher

I study genomic conflict and sex ratio evolution. I have focused on the system of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) in plants which provides an excellent opportunity for addressing questions related to both fields. CMS is a sex ratio distorter (causing hermaphroditic plants to abort pollen and become female) that is widespread in the plant kingdom, and used heavily in agriculture for hybrid seed production. CMS is also a classic case of genomic conflict in which mitochondrial genes (that are maternally transmitted) cause pollen abortion, and thus reduce the transmission of nuclear genes (which are both maternally and paternally transmitted). This conflict results in an intergenomic arms race between nuclear and mitochondrial genes. My work has explored how population genetics driven by genomic conflict dynamics influence population sex ratios. I have also recently begun to investigate the evolutionary dynamics of the plant mitochondrial genome and how they compare to those of animals and fungi.

Representative Publications

• Barr, CM, M Neiman, and DR Taylor. 2005. Inheritance and recombination of mitochondrial genomes in plants, fungi and animals. New Phytologist 168: 39-50. pdf
• Barr, CM. 2004. Soil moisture and sex ratio in a plant with nuclear-cytoplasmic sex inheritance. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B. 271: 1935-1939. pdf
• Barr, CM. 2004. Hybridization and regional sex ratios in Nemophila menziesii. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 17: 786-794. pdf
• Frank, SA, and Barr, CM. 2003. Apoptosis and hybrid incompatibility. Journal of Heredity 94: 181-183. pdf
• Frank, SA, and Barr, CM. 2002. Spatial dynamics of cytoplasmic male sterility. Pages 219-243 in Integrating Ecology and Evolution in a Spatial Context. J. Silvertown and J. Antonovics, eds. Blackwell Science, Oxford. pdf
• Barr, CM. 1996. Studies on the southern-limit population of the Pennsylvania-endangered sedge, Eriophorum gracile. Bartonia 59: 87-93.

Department of Biology, PO Box 400328 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4328
Email: drt3b@virginia.edu  Phone:(434)982-5217