A University of Queensland researcher is using molecular analysis in an attempt to resolve a hotly debated issue in evolutionary theory, involving the relationship between turtles, crocodiles and other reptiles.
Dr Michael Lee, a lecturer from UQ's Department of Zoology and Entomology, is one of seven winners of the 2000 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards to be announced at a special ceremony on Monday, September 4.
The awards, a joint initiative between The University of Queensland Foundation Ltd and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, recognise outstanding performance and leadership potential among research staff.
Dr Lee will be studying gene sequences across a wide sample of reptiles in order to test the long-standing theory that turtles are a very primitive lineage only distantly related to other modern groups.
The theory was called into question recently by several molecular analyses which suggested turtles were closely related to crocodiles. If this is the case, it refutes the almost universally accepted idea that crocodiles and birds are closest living relatives.
In a published paper, Dr Lee suggested these molecular studies were suspect because many of the genes analysed were evolving too fast to yield conclusive results.
'There can be problems trying to match up equivalent regions of genes if they've diverged widely. In some of the genes over 40 percent of the sequences could not be lined up with certainty,' Dr Lee said.
'Even if you can line them up, it becomes very difficult to sort out convergence from true evolutionary similarity.'
Dr Lee will be further testing the theory put forward in these molecular studies by sequencing two poorly sampled nuclear genes in representatives all the major groups of turtles and crocodiles.
'My background is in paleontology and most of my earlier work supported the orthodox view,' Dr Lee said.
'The UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award in effect allows me to expand my research into a novel but interesting area that is really the logical extension of my earlier work.'
Dr Lee graduated from The University of Queensland (B.Sc first class honours in Zoology) in 1990, also winning the University Medal. He completed his PhD in Zoology at the University of Cambridge in 1995, and was awarded at Fulbright Fellowship in 1998.
In a relatively short period, Dr Lee has built a high profile research program probing major problems in the evolutionary tree of vertebrates.
This work has appeared in leading international journals, such as Nature and Science, and has been covered in the mass media both at home and abroad in publications such as the New York Times, the Times, the Australian, New Scientist and National Geographic.
Dr Lee recently gained widespread media attention for his work with Dr John Scanlon on the discovery of a giant prehistoric snake thought to be the inspiration for the 'rainbow serpent' of the Aboriginal Dreaming.
Funding for his work includes ARC large grants (1998-2002) to research the origin and early evolution of snakes. Other research areas include the probable relationship between goannas and snakes, the evolution of live-bearing in reptiles and the radiation of venomous snakes in Australia.
