CURRENT POST BBSRC-funded PhD student CONTACT Department of Biology University College London The Galton Laboratory 4 Stephenson Way London NW1 2HE United Kingdom Phone: +44 20 7679 5043 Fax: +44 20 7679 5052 E-mail: e.hornett@ucl.ac.uk

BRIEF C.V.

2003 - present: PhD Biology (Evolutionary Genetics), UCL
1999 - 2002: BSc Zoology (Hons), UCL
1998 - 1999: Research Assistant, Frontier Vietnam (Jan-April)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My interests are very widespread and include genetics, evolution, conservation and animal behaviour. At the moment I am particularly interested in how the cytoplasmic bacterium, Wolbachia, affects the evolution of its host, the nymphalid butterfly Hypolimnas bolina. The phenotype Wolbachia expresses in this system is male killing, where a female butterfly will only produce viable female offspring (male offspring die as embryos or during the 1st larval instar). This occurs as Wolbachia is solely inherited through the maternal line, making male hosts an evolutionary ‘dead end’. If some benefit to the Wolbachia, or the infected female host exists over that of their uninfected counterparts, then these male killing bacteria will spread through the host population. Male killing is believed to have a profound effect on the evolution of the butterfly host in several ways, some of which I am currently investigating, for example: a) the effect on host population genetic variation and b) the possibility of the evolution of host nuclear resistance. In addition I am studying the causes of extreme male killer prevalence found in some populations of this butterfly.

REFERENCES

Charlat, S., Engelstädter, J., Dyson, E.A., Hornett, E.A., Duplouy, A., Tortosa, P., Davies, N., Roderick, G.K. Wedell, N. & Hurst, G.D.D.
Competing selfish genetic elements in the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina.
Current Biology, in press.

Hornett, E.A., Charlat, S., Duplouy, A.M.R., Davies, N. Roderick, G.K., Wedell, N. & Hurst, G.D.D.  Evolution of Male Killer Suppression in a Natural Population.
PLoS Biology 4: e283.   [ pdf ]

Charlat, S., Hornett, E.A., Dyson, E.A., Ho, P.P.Y., Loc, N.T., Schilthuizen, M., Davies, N., Roderick, G.K. & Hurst, G.D.D. 2005.
Is extreme male-killer prevalence a local or common event in the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina? A survey across Indo-Pacific populations.
Molecular Ecology 14, 3525-3530.

Veneti, Z., Reuter, M. , Montenegro, H.,  Hornett, E. A.,  Charlat, S. and Hurst, G.D.D. 2005. Interactions between inherited bacteria and their hosts: The Wolbachia paradigm.
Pp. 119-142 In McFall Ngai, M., Ruby, E.G. & Henderson, B. (eds.)
The influence of bacterial communities on host biology. C.U.P.