Gerald Wilkinson headshot
Contact Info
Office Phone: 301.405.6942
Lab: 301.405.6914
Fax: 301.314.9358
Office Address: 2223 Biology-Psychology Bldg
Gerald Wilkinson
Professor
Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs and Graduate Education, CMNS

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Neuroscience & Cognitive Science (NACS)
  • BISI-Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, & Genomics (CBBG)
  • BISI-Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, & Systematics (BEES)

Teaching

BSCI 401: Animal Communication


Research Interests

Dr. Wilkinson conducts research on the evolution of social behavior, with emphasis on how genetic mechanisms may influence the outcome of evolution. Recent research in the lab addresses several controversial topics in animal behavior: sexual selection, genomic conflict, cooperation and communication. Stalk-eyed flies are being used as a model system for studying the evolution of sexually selected traits. Our recent empirical and theoretical results have surprisingly implicated meiotic drive as a potent evolutionary agent which can catalyze sexual selection. Using quantitative trait locus studies we confirmed the prediction that sex-linked genes that influence a sexually selected trait are linked to genes causing sex chromosome meiotic drive. By hybridizing genomic DNA to custom Agilent  microarrays we discovered that stalk-eyed flies contain a neo-X chromosome and that genes have moved both onto and off of this chromosome.  We have recently assembled the genome for a stalk-eyed fly and are currently using RNA-seq to infer gene duplication events and expression change across tissues and sexes for over a dozen different species of flies.  Bats in the neotropics and in the US are also being studied in the lab and field to understand how communication mediates cooperation and social learning.


Education

B.S., University of California, Davis, 1977
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1984


All Publications 

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Latest Publications via PubMed

Riddle NC,Biga PR,Bronikowski AM,Walters JR,Wilkinson GS,IISAGE Consortium
Geroscience. 2024 Feb;46(1):171-181. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00984-2. Epub 2023 Oct 27
Haghani A,Li CZ,Robeck TR,Zhang J,Lu AT,Ablaeva J,Acosta-Rodríguez VA,Adams DM,Alagaili AN,Almunia J,Aloysius A,Amor NMS,Ardehali R,Arneson A,Baker CS,Banks G,Belov K,Bennett NC,Black P,Blumstein DT,Bors EK,Breeze CE,Brooke RT,Brown JL,Carter G,Caulton A,Cavin JM,Chakrabarti L,Chatzistamou I,Chavez AS,Chen H,Cheng K,Chiavellini P,Choi OW,Clarke S,Cook JA,Cooper LN,Cossette ML,Day J,DeYoung J,Dirocco S,Dold C,Dunnum JL,Ehmke EE,Emmons CK,Emmrich S,Erbay E,Erlacher-Reid C,Faulkes CG,Fei Z,Ferguson SH,Finno CJ,Flower JE,Gaillard JM,Garde E,Gerber L,Gladyshev VN,Goya RG,Grant MJ,Green CB,Hanson MB,Hart DW,Haulena M,Herrick K,Hogan AN,Hogg CJ,Hore TA,Huang T,Izpisua Belmonte JC,Jasinska AJ,Jones G,Jourdain E,Kashpur O,Katcher H,Katsumata E,Kaza V,Kiaris H,Kobor MS,Kordowitzki P,Koski WR,Krützen M,Kwon SB,Larison B,Lee SG,Lehmann M,Lemaître JF,Levine AJ,Li X,Li C,Lim AR,Lin DTS,Lindemann DM,Liphardt SW,Little TJ,Macoretta N,Maddox D,Matkin CO,Mattison JA,McClure M,Mergl J,Meudt JJ,Montano GA,Mozhui K,Munshi-South J,Murphy WJ,Naderi A,Nagy M,Narayan P,Nathanielsz PW,Nguyen NB,Niehrs C,Nyamsuren B,O'Brien JK,Ginn PO,Odom DT,Ophir AG,Osborn S,Ostrander EA,Parsons KM,Paul KC,Pedersen AB,Pellegrini M,Peters KJ,Petersen JL,Pietersen DW,Pinho GM,Plassais J,Poganik JR,Prado NA,Reddy P,Rey B,Ritz BR,Robbins J,Rodriguez M,Russell J,Rydkina E,Sailer LL,Salmon AB,Sanghavi A,Schachtschneider KM,Schmitt D,Schmitt T,Schomacher L,Schook LB,Sears KE,Seifert AW,Shafer ABA,Shindyapina AV,Simmons M,Singh K,Sinha I,Slone J,Snell RG,Soltanmohammadi E,Spangler ML,Spriggs M,Staggs L,Stedman N,Steinman KJ,Stewart DT,Sugrue VJ,Szladovits B,Takahashi JS,Takasugi M,Teeling EC,Thompson MJ,Van Bonn B,Vernes SC,Villar D,Vinters HV,Vu H,Wallingford MC,Wang N,Wilkinson GS,Williams RW,Yan Q,Yao M,Young BG,Zhang B,Zhang Z,Zhao Y,Zhao P,Zhou W,Zoller JA,Ernst J,Seluanov A,Gorbunova V,Yang XW,Raj K,Horvath S
Science. 2023 Aug 11;381(6658):eabq5693. doi: 10.1126/science.abq5693. Epub 2023 Aug 11
Paczolt KA,Welsh GT,Wilkinson GS
Proc Biol Sci. 2023 Jul 26;290(2003):20230929. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0929. Epub 2023 Jul 26
Reinhardt JA,Baker RH,Zimin AV,Ladias C,Paczolt KA,Werren JH,Hayashi CY,Wilkinson GS
Genome Biol Evol. 2023 Jul 3;15(7):. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad118. Epub
Tarnovsky YC,Taiber S,Nissan Y,Boonman A,Assaf Y,Wilkinson GS,Avraham KB,Yovel Y
Life Sci Alliance. 2023 Jun;6(6):. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202201847. Epub 2023 Mar 30
Wilkinson GS,Adams DM,Haghani A,Lu AT,Zoller J,Breeze CE,Arnold BD,Ball HC,Carter GG,Cooper LN,Dechmann DKN,Devanna P,Fasel NJ,Galazyuk AV,Günther L,Hurme E,Jones G,Knörnschild M,Lattenkamp EZ,Li CZ,Mayer F,Reinhardt JA,Medellin RA,Nagy M,Pope B,Power ML,Ransome RD,Teeling EC,Vernes SC,Zamora-Mejías D,Zhang J,Faure PA,Greville LJ,Herrera M LG,Flores-Martínez JJ,Horvath S
Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 7;13(1):5266. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33102-5. Epub 2022 Sep 7
Sullivan IR,Adams DM,Greville LJS,Faure PA,Wilkinson GS
Proc Biol Sci. 2022 Aug 10;289(1980):20220635. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0635. Epub 2022 Aug 10
Bronikowski AM,Meisel RP,Biga PR,Walters JR,Mank JE,Larschan E,Wilkinson GS,Valenzuela N,Conard AM,de Magalhães JP,Duan JE,Elias AE,Gamble T,Graze RM,Gribble KE,Kreiling JA,Riddle NC
Aging Cell. 2022 Feb;21(2):e13542. doi: 10.1111/acel.13542. Epub 2022 Jan 23
Wilkinson GS,Adams DM,Haghani A,Lu AT,Zoller J,Breeze CE,Arnold BD,Ball HC,Carter GG,Cooper LN,Dechmann DKN,Devanna P,Fasel NJ,Galazyuk AV,Günther L,Hurme E,Jones G,Knörnschild M,Lattenkamp EZ,Li CZ,Mayer F,Reinhardt JA,Medellin RA,Nagy M,Pope B,Power ML,Ransome RD,Teeling EC,Vernes SC,Zamora-Mejías D,Zhang J,Faure PA,Greville LJ,Horvath S,Herrera M LG,Flores-Martínez JJ
Nat Commun. 2021 May 5;12(1):2652. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23129-5. Epub 2021 May 5
Wilkinson GS,Adams DM,Haghani A,Lu AT,Zoller J,Breeze CE,Arnold BD,Ball HC,Carter GG,Cooper LN,Dechmann DKN,Devanna P,Fasel NJ,Galazyuk AV,Günther L,Hurme E,Jones G,Knörnschild M,Lattenkamp EZ,Li CZ,Mayer F,Reinhardt JA,Medellin RA,Nagy M,Pope B,Power ML,Ransome RD,Teeling EC,Vernes SC,Zamora-Mejías D,Zhang J,Faure PA,Greville LJ,Herrera M LG,Flores-Martínez JJ,Horvath S
Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 12;12(1):1615. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21900-2. Epub 2021 Mar 12
Braun MJ,Wilkinson GS,Cade BS
Science. 2020 Oct 9;370(6513):. pii: eabd3905. doi: 10.1126/science.abd3905. Epub
Vernes SC,Wilkinson GS
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Jan 6;375(1789):20190061. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0061. Epub 2019 Nov 18
Fishbein AR,Fritz JB,Idsardi WJ,Wilkinson GS
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Jan 6;375(1789):20190042. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0042. Epub 2019 Nov 18
Wilkinson GS
Curr Biol. 2019 Dec 2;29(23):R1216-R1217. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.052. Epub
Frankino WA,Bakota E,Dworkin I,Wilkinson GS,Wolf JB,Shingleton AW
Integr Comp Biol. 2019 Nov 1;59(5):1411-1428. doi: 10.1093/icb/icz135. Epub
Hurme E,Gurarie E,Greif S,Herrera M LG,Flores-Martínez JJ,Wilkinson GS,Yovel Y
Mov Ecol. 2019;7:21. doi: 10.1186/s40462-019-0163-7. Epub 2019 Jun 14
Wilkinson GS,Adams DM
Biol Lett. 2019 Apr 26;15(4):20180860. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0860. Epub
Egert-Berg K,Hurme ER,Greif S,Goldstein A,Harten L,Herrera M LG,Flores-Martínez JJ,Valdés AT,Johnston DS,Eitan O,Borissov I,Shipley JR,Medellin RA,Wilkinson GS,Goerlitz HR,Yovel Y
Curr Biol. 2018 Nov 19;28(22):3667-3673.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.064. Epub 2018 Nov 1
Adams DM,Li Y,Wilkinson GS
J Chem Ecol. 2018 Nov;44(11):975-986. doi: 10.1007/s10886-018-1003-8. Epub 2018 Aug 4
Fishbein AR,Löschner J,Mallon JM,Wilkinson GS
PLoS One. 2018;13(8):e0202353. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202353. Epub 2018 Aug 29