Matt Rutter
College of Charleston
Education
Ph.D., 2002, Duke University
Research Interests
- Plant ecology, genetics and evolution
Current research projects
- Quantifying the effects of mutation on fitness in a model genetic plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) in its native European range
- Describing fitness effects of mutations at known locations within the genome, using both spontaneous mutations and induced knockout mutations
- Restoration ecology of a native annual plant-- the potential benefits and consequences of using a plant to alleviate soil cadmium contamination
- Using a bioinformatic, whole-genome approach to examine the relationship between gene conservation, gene expression and fitness in Arabidopsis thaliana
Publications
- Rutter, M.T., F.H. Shaw and C. B. Fenster. 2010. Spontaneous mutation parameters for Arabidopsis thaliana measured in the wild. Evolution 64:1825-1835.
- Rutter, M.T. and C.B. Fenster. 2007. Testing for adaptation to climate inArabidopsis thaliana: a calibrated common garden approach. Annals of Botany99: 529-536.
- Kephart, S., R.J. Reynolds, M.T. Rutter, C.B. Fenster, and M.R. Dudash. 2006. Pollination and seed predation by moths on Silene and allied Caryophyllaceae: Evaluating a model system to study the evolution of mutualisms. New Phytologist 169: 667-680.
- Rutter, M.T. and M.D. Rausher. 2004. Natural selection on extrafloral nectar production in Chamaecrista fasciculata: the costs and benefits of a mutualist trait. Evolution 58: 2657-2668.
- Rutter, M.T. and R.A. Zufall. 2004. Pathway length and evolutionary constraint in amino acid biosynthesis. Journal of Molecular Evolution 58: 218-224.