Overview Academic/Research Interest Areas

My research program has centered around quantitative genetics of growth of various morphometric characters (chiefly bone and tooth dimensions) in mice and rats. Much of this program has involved estimation of genetic and environmental components of variance and covariance for characters that has allowed a greater understanding of problems relating to growth and allometry. Current research is focused on estimating the genetical basis for fluctuating asymmetry (FA), the variation typically found between right and left sides of bilateral characters. FA is thought to be an excellent indicator of developmental homeostasis, and increasingly has been used to compare stability levels in populations subjected to genetic or environmental stressors such as inbreeding, hybridization, parasitic infections, pollution, and sexual selection. We have successfully used quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies to describe genetical variation in FA and related asymmetries.

Recent Publications

Keller J.M., Allen D.E., Davis, C.R., and L.J. Leamy. 2007. 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin affects fluctuating asymmetry of molar shape in mice, and an epistatic interaction of two genes for molar size. Heredity 98: 259-267.

Keller, J.M., Huet-Hudson Y.M., and L.J. Leamy. 2007. Qualitative effects of dioxin on molar vary among inbred mouse strains. Archives of Oral Biology 52: 450-454.

Lightfoot J., M. Turner, A. Kleinfehn, A. Jedlicka, T. Oshimura, J. Marzec, W. Gladwell, L. Leamy and S. Kleeberger. 2007. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with maximum exercise endurance in mice. Journal of Applied Physiology 103: 105-110.

Wolf, J.B., D. Pomp, E. J. Eisen, and L.J. Leamy. 2006. The contribution of epistatic pleiotropy to the genetic architecture of covariation among polygenic traits in mice. Evolution & Development 8: 468-476.

Willmore, K.E., Leamy, L. and B. Hallgrimmson. 2006. The effects of developmental and functional interactions on mouse cranial variability through late ontogeny. Evolution & Development 8: 550-567.

Educational Background

B.S., Education (Major, Mathematics), Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, 1962

M.S., Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1965

Ph.D., Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1967