Research
The main focus of my research is to investigate the “rate of ticking” of molecular clocks. In particular I am interested to see whether temperature variations have an effect on the constancy of a metabolic-rate dependent molecular clock in invertebrates.
Varying rates of molecular evolution within and among lineages have led to scientists using the molecular clock with “their fingers crossed”. Despite the doubts regarding the existence of a “strict molecular clock” it has been argued that a single molecular clock as originally proposed indeed exists. The key being that the strict clock does not “tick” per unit of time but that it has a constant substitution rate per unit of mass-specific metabolic energy instead. According to this “metabolic clock theory” a failure of correcting for body size and temperature – the two factors metabolic rate depends on – would lead to small organisms in warmer climates having relatively faster mutation rates than their counterparts. Thus, it has been suggested that molecular clocks have to be recalibrated taking both factors into consideration. Since this proposition several studies have tested the body size effect on mutation rates but somewhat neglected the effects of temperature on the molecular clock.
Molecular clock
The aim of my PhD is to single out the temperature effect on the metabolic-rate molecular clock in invertebrates. Differences in mutation rates due to temperature are of important interest since they might partially explain the “Hotspot-effect” – the relatively high speciation rates, species richness and high endemism – found in tropical compared to temperate countries.
Curriculum Vitae
Mar 2006 – Sep 2009: PhD student at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland. Thesis: “Mutations as molecular tools: The metabolic-rate dependent molecular clock and DNA barcoding for allied species.” Multi-site Research and Training Network “HOTSPOTS” funded by the European Commission (FP6 Marie Curie Actions), (Supervisor: Prof Juha Merilä, Dr. Jyrki Muona).
May – Oct 2008: Research visit at the Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, as part of the PhD.
Feb – May 2007: Research visit at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, as part of the PhD.
2003 – Feb 2006: Laboratory assistant in the Evolution and Behaviour Laboratory, University of Sheffield, England.
2001 – 2005: MSci Biology/Zoology in Population Genetics at the University of Sheffield, England.
Publications
Crudgington HS, Beckerman AP, Brüstle L, Green K, Snook RR (2005) Experimental removal and elevation of sexual selection: Does sexual selection generate manipulative males and resistant females? Am. Nat.S5: S 72-S 87.
Muona J, Lassila N, Brüstle L (2008) Hylochares cruentatus (Gyllenhal) Suomessa – haapasepikästä halavasepikäksi (Col., Eucnemidae). Sahlbergia 14: 17-21.
Muona J, Brüstle L (2008) Observations on the biology of Hylochares cruentatus (Gyllenhal) (Coleoptera, Eucnemidae). Entomol Fennica 19: 151-158.
Snook RR, Brüstle L, Slate J. (2009) A test and review of the role of effective population size on experimental sexual selection patterns. Evolution 63: 1923-1933.
Brüstle L, Muona J. (2009) Life-history studies versus genetic markers – the case of Hylochares cruentatus (Coleoptera, Eucnemidae). J of Zool Syst & Evol Res 47: 337-343.
Brüstle L, Alaruikka D, Muona J, Teräväinen M. The phylogeny of the pantropical genus Arrhipis Bonvouloir (Coleoptera, Eucnemidae). Cladistics (in press).
Brüstle L, Salamin N, Muona J. Influence of temperature on invertebrate mutation rates: do different approaches tell the same story? BMC Evol Biol (in preparation).
Scientific communications
Brüstle, L. (2007) Metabolic Rate: Solving the Molecular Clock Mystery? Oral presentation at the Spring Symposium, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Contact details
Email: lena.brustle@helsinki.fi