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Research Interests

• Mitochondrial genome biology
• Recombination in nematode mitochondria
• Evolutionary relationships among Hymenoptera
• Phylogenetic analysis
• Mitochondrial gene rearrangements
• Molecular diagnostics of forensically important insects

Representative Publications

M Dowton and AD Austin (1994) Molecular phylogeny of the insect order Hymenoptera: Apocritan relationships. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 9911-9915;
http://intl.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/91/21/9911

M Dowton and AD Austin (1999) Evolutionary dynamics of a mitochondrial rearrangement ‘hotspot’ in the Hymenoptera. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16: 298-309;
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/16/2/298

M Dowton and NJH Campbell (2001) Intramitochondrial recombination – is it why some mitochondrial genes sleep around. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 269-271;

M Dowton and AD Austin (2002) Increased congruence does not necessarily indicate increased phylogenetic accuracy – the behavior of the incongruence length difference test in mixed-model analyses. Syst. Biol. 51: 19-31;

AD Austin, NF Johnson and M Dowton (2005) Systematics, evolution and biology of scelionid and platygastrid wasps. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 50: 553-582;
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.ento.50.071803.130500

LR Castro and M Dowton (2006) Molecular analyses of the Apocrita (Insecta: Hymenoptera) suggest that the Chalcidoidea are sister to the diaprioid complex. Invert. Syst. 20: 603-614;
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=IS06002.pdf

LA Nelson, JF Wallman and M Dowton (2007) Using COI barcodes to identify forensically and medically important blowflies. Med. Vet. Entomol. 21: 44-52;
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2915.2007.00664.x

T Gibson, VC Blok, MS Phillips, G Hong, D Kumarasinghe, IT Riley and M Dowton (2007) The mitochondrial genomes of the nematode Globodera pallida are mosaics: evidence of recombination in an animal mitochondrial genome. J. Mol. Evol. 64: 463-471;
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l4jg8577t60v73u3/fulltext.pdf

Current Students

PhD

Angela Riepsamen, Project title: Multipartite Mitochondrial Genomes in Nematodes. (Co-supervised with Mark Walker).

Masters

Terina Bruhn, Project title: Molecular identification of blowflies.

Honours

Daniel Farrugia, Project title: Characterisation of the mitochondrial genome of Punctodera chalcoenis

Suggested Topics for Future Students

1. Can complete mitochondrial genome sequences be used to trace the evolutionary relationships among the Hymenoptera, one of the largest insect orders?
2. How do animal mitochondrial genomes recombine? Using the nematode mitochondrial genome as a model system
3. Is the DNA barcode useful for all organisms? Investigation of its utility for the identification of forensically important insects, and agricultural pests

Abbreviated CV

Academic Degrees

• 1983 BSc (Hons), Sydney University
• 1987 PhD, Sydney University

Current/Recent Research Grants

• ARC Linkage (2004-2006): Molecular identification of blowflies of forensic importance and thermal effects on their behaviour: tools to enhance forensic entomology in Australia. $87,000
• ARC Discovery (2005-2007): The evolution of multipartite mitochondrial genomes in the cyst-forming nematodes. $180,000
• ARC Discovery (2005-2007): Structural reorganization of the hymenopteran mitochondrial genome. $180,000
• URC (2007): The discovery of protein-coding genes for phylogenetics. $15,000
• UIC (2007): Establishing a mitogenome research link with the Scottish Crop Research Institute. $9,500
• ARC Near Miss (2008) The discovery of protein-coding genes for phylogenetics. $8,000