Kathleen M. Pryer

Professor in the Department of Biology

Office:

358 Bio Sci Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Campus Box:

Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0338

Phone:

(919) 660-7380

Pryer Lab Website

My research focuses on understanding the evolutionary relationships of ancient land plants, especially ferns and horsetails, by integrating evidence from morphology, molecules (DNA sequence data from multiple genes), and the fossil record. I use an explicit phylogenetic framework to examine the morphological evolution of various sporophytic and gametophytic characters within vascular plants, and to gain insight into the evolution of various life history traits and the body plans that typify vascular plants. A phylogenetic perspective also informs my molecular evolutionary studies that attempt to elucidate why we observe remarkable rate heterogeneity in chloroplast genes in land plant phylogeny.

Education

Ph.D., Duke University 1995
M.S., University of Guelph (Canada) 1981
B.S., McGill University (Canada) 1976

Schuettpelz, E, and Pryer, KM. "Fern phylogeny." In Biology and Evolution of Ferns and Lycophytes, 395-416. January 1, 2008. Full Text

Smith, AR, Pryer, KM, Schuettpelz, E, Korall, P, Schneider, H, and Wolf, PG. "Fern classification." In Biology and Evolution of Ferns and Lycophytes, 417-467. January 1, 2008. Full Text

Dijkhuizen, LW, Brouwer, P, Bolhuis, H, Reichart, G-J, Koppers, N, Huettel, B, Bolger, AM, Li, F-W, Cheng, S, Liu, X, Wong, GK-S, Pryer, K, Weber, A, Bräutigam, A, and Schluepmann, H. "Is there foul play in the leaf pocket? The metagenome of floating fern Azolla reveals endophytes that do not fix N2 but may denitrify." The New phytologist 217, no. 1 (January 2018): 453-466. Full Text

Song, M, Kuo, L-Y, Huiet, L, Pryer, KM, Rothfels, CJ, and Li, F-W. "A novel chloroplast gene reported for flagellate plants." American journal of botany 105, no. 1 (January 2018): 117-121. Full Text

Rothfels, CJ, Pryer, KM, and Li, F-W. "Next-generation polyploid phylogenetics: rapid resolution of hybrid polyploid complexes using PacBio single-molecule sequencing." The New phytologist 213, no. 1 (January 2017): 413-429. Full Text

Hirai, R, Schuettpelz, E, Huiet, L, Pryer, K, Smith, A, and Prado, J. "Phylogeny and relationships of the neotropical Adiantum raddianum group (Pteridaceae)." Taxon 65, no. 6 (December 1, 2016): 1225-1235. Full Text

Haufler, CH, Pryer, KM, Schuettpelz, E, Sessa, EB, Farrar, DR, Moran, R, Schneller, JJ, Watkins, JE, and Windham, MD. "Sex and the Single Gametophyte: Revising the Homosporous Vascular Plant Life Cycle in Light of Contemporary Research." BioScience 66, no. 11 (November 1, 2016): 928-937. Full Text Open Access Copy

Schuettpelz, E, Chen, C-W, Kessler, M, Pinson, JB, Johnson, G, Davila, A, Cochran, AT, Huiet, L, and Pryer, KM. "A revised generic classification of vittarioid ferns (Pteridaceae) based on molecular, micromorphological, and geographic data." Taxon 65, no. 4 (August 30, 2016): 708-722. Full Text

Li, F-W, Kuo, L-Y, Pryer, KM, and Rothfels, CJ. "Genes Translocated into the Plastid Inverted Repeat Show Decelerated Substitution Rates and Elevated GC Content." Genome Biology and Evolution 8, no. 8 (August 2016): 2452-2458. Full Text

Pryer, KM, Huiet, L, Li, F-W, Rothfels, CJ, and Schuettpelz, E. "Maidenhair Ferns, Adiantum , are Indeed Monophyletic and Sister to Shoestring Ferns, Vittarioids (Pteridaceae)." Systematic Botany 41, no. 1 (March 1, 2016): 17-23. Full Text

Grusz, AL, and Pryer, KM. "Development of microsatellite markers for the apomictic triploid fern Myriopteris lindheimeri (Pteridaceae)." Applications in plant sciences 3, no. 11 (November 10, 2015). Full Text

Kao, T-T, Pryer, KM, Turner, MD, White, RA, and Korall, P. "Origins of the Endemic Scaly Tree Ferns on the Galápagos and Cocos Islands." International Journal of Plant Sciences 176, no. 9 (November 2015): 869-879. Full Text