Henrique Teotónio
Experimental Evolutionary Genetics
Our primary focus is investigating how organisms adapt to changing environments, employing experimental evolution techniques with the roundworm nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We’ve cultivated domesticated C. elegans populations, characterized by their standing genetic diversity, diverse reproductive modes, and varying recombination rates, to study adaptation. Additionally, we’ve developed the CeMEE panel, a collection of recombinant inbred lines, enabling us to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) with unparalleled precision for a metazoan. Our research utilizes quantitative genetics and population genomics to analyze evolutionary diversification trends in real-time. For more details on the research topics we’ve explored over the past two decades, please visit our research page. An overview of experimental evolution with Caenorhabditis nematodes can be found here.
Keywords: evolutionary theory, experimental evolution, evolve and resequence, C. elegans, quantitative genetics, population genetics, population genomics, phenotypic plasticity, maternal effects, mutation, segregation, recombination, sexual reproduction, selfing, outcrossing, adaptation, fitness, natural selection, sexual selection, balancing selection, correlated selection, heritability, G-matrix, polygenicity, genetic conflicts, epistasis, dominance, overdominance, linkage disequilibrium, genome-wide association analysis, quantitative trait loci (QTL), genomic prediction
Representative publications:
Parée, T., L. Noble, D. Roze, H. Teotónio. 2025. Selection can favor a recombination landscape that limits polygenic adaptation. Molecular Biology and Evolution 42: msae273, doi: 10.1093/molbev/msae273.
Mallard, F., B. Afonso and H. Teotónio. 2023. Selection and the direction of phenotypic evolution. eLife 12: e80993, doi: 10.7554/eLife.80993.
Proulx, S.R. and H. Teotónio. 2022. The relative strength of selection on modifiers of genetic architecture under migration load. PLoS Genet, 18: e1010350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010350.
Guzella, T.S., S. Dey, I.M. Chelo, A. Pino-Querido, V.F. Pereira, S.R. Proulx and H. Teotónio. 2018. Slower environmental change hinders adaptation from standing genetic variation. PLOS Genetics 14: e1007731, doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007731.
Noble L., I. Chelo, T. Guzella, B. Afonso, D. Riccardi, P. Ammerman, A. Pino-Querido, S. Carvalho, A. Crist, A. Dayarian, B. Shraiman, M.V. Rockman and H. Teotónio. 2017. Polygenicity and epistasis underlie fitness-proximal traits in the Caenorhabditis elegans multiparental experimental evolution (CeMEE) panel. Genetics 207: 1663, doi: 10.1534/genetics.117.300406.
Dey et al. 2016. Adaptation to temporally fluctuating environments by the evolution of maternal effects. PLOS Biology, 14:e1002388.
