Joan E. Strassmann is a evolutionary biologist who is interested in how cooperation prospers in the face of evolutionary conflicts.

She received her BS from The University of Michigan in 1974, and her PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in 1979. Dr Strassmann has been on the faculty of Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 in Houston, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 since 1980, and is currently Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She was appointed professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

 effective July 2011. Her work focuses on cooperative alliances that have occurred at several important steps in the evolution of life, and which have proven evolutionarily and ecologically successful. In collaboration with David C. Queller

David C. Queller

David C. Queller is a leading evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his BA from The University of Illinois in 1976, and his PhD from The University Michigan in 1982. Dr. Queller was a faculty member at Rice University in Houston, Texas from 1989-2011,...

, she measured genetic relatedness within colonies of many wasp species, and showed that kin selection theory predicts the existence and outcome of within-family conflicts of interest. They pioneered the use of DNA microsatellites for relatedness estimation. In 1998 they began to work on Dictyostelium discoideum

Dictyostelium discoideum

Dictyostelium discoideum is a species of soil-living amoeba belonging to the phylum Mycetozoa. D. discoideum, commonly referred to as slime mold, is a eukaryote that transitions from a collection of unicellular amoebae into a multicellular slug and then into a fruiting body within its lifetime. D...

, a species of social amoebae where the evolution of social interactions can be explored at physiological, genetic, and genomic levels. In a series of papers they showed the power of social evolution theory in explaining multicellular organization, from developmental pathways to cell adhesion, and with collaborators have identified over a hundred cheater genes. Dictyostelium discoideum is a new model for social evolution.

Honors

• Fellow, Animal Behavior Society
  Animal Behavior Society
  The Animal Behavior Society is an international non-profit scientific society that encourages and promotes the professional study of animal behavior. It has open membership and also provides a certification and directory for animal behaviorists...
  
  , 2002
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  American Association for the Advancement of Science
  The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
  
  , 2004
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
  
  , 2008

Selected publications

• Ostrowski, EA, Katoh, M, Shaulsky, G, Queller, DC, and Strassmann, JE. 2008. Kin Discrimination Increases with Genetic Distance in a Social Amoeba. PLoS Biology 6 (11):e287
• Santorelli, L. A., Thompson, C. R. L., Villegas, E., Svetz, J., Dinh, C. Parikh, A., Sucgang, R., Kuspa, A., Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C., Shaulsky, G. 2008. Facultative cheater mutants reveal the genetic complexity of cooperation in social amoebae. Nature 451:1107-1110.
• Kronforst, MR, Gilley, DC, Strassmann, JE, and Queller, DC. 2008. DNA methylation is widespread across social Hymenoptera. Current Biology 18:R287-R288.
• Strassmann, J.E. 2007. Insect societies as divided organisms: the complexities of purpose and cross-purpose. PNAS 104:8619-8626.
• Kuzdzal-Fick, J. J., Foster, K. R., Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E. 2007. Exploiting new terrain: an advantage to sociality in the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 18:433-437.
• Gilbert, O. G., Foster, K. R., Mehdiabadi, N. J., Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C. 2007. High relatedness maintains multicellular cooperation in a social amoeba by controlling cheater mutants PNAS 104:8913-8917.
• McConnell, R., Middlemist, S., Scala, C., Strassmann, J.E. and Queller, D.C. 2007. An unusually low microsatellite mutation rate in Dictyostelium discoideum, an organism with unusually abundant microsatellites. Genetics 177:1499-1507.
• Mehdiabadi, NJ, Jack, CN, Farnham, TT, Platt, TG, Kalla, SE, Shaulsky, G, Queller, DC, and Strassmann, JE. 2006. Kin preference in a social microbe. Nature. 442: 881-882.
• Choudhary, M., Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C., Turillazzi, S. and Cervo, R. 1994. Social parasites in polistine wasps are monophyletic: implications for sympatric speciation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Series B 257: 31-35.
• Castillo, D. I., Switz*, G. T., Foster, K. R., Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E. 2005. A cost to chimerism in Dictyostelium discoideum on natural substrates. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 7:263-271.
• Foster, K. R., Shaulsky, G., Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C., Thompson, C. R. L. 2004. Pleiotropy as a mechanism to stabilize cooperation. Nature 431:693-696
• Dani, F. R., Foster, K. R., Zacchi, F., Seppä, P., Massolo, A., Carelli, A., Arévalo, E., Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E., Turillazzi, S. 2004. Can cuticular lipids provide sufficient information for within-colony nepotism in wasps? Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. B. 271:745-753.
• Queller, D.C., Ponte, E., Bozzaro, S. and Strassmann, J.E. 2003. Single-gene greenbeard effects in the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum. Science 299: 105-106.
• Fortunato, A, Santorelli, L., Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C., 2003. Co-occurrence in nature of different clones of the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum. Molecular Ecology, 12:1031-1038.
• Strassmann, J. E., Sullender, B. W., and Queller D. C. 2002. Caste totipotency and conflict in a large-colony social insect. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences. 269:263-270.
• Foster, K. R., Fortunato, A., Strassmann, J. E. and Queller, D. C., 2002. The costs and benefits of chimaerism in the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences. 269: 2357-2362.
• Henshaw, M. T., Queller, D. C., and Strassmann, J. E. 2002. Control of male production in the swarm-founding wasp, Polybioides tabidus. J. Evolutionary Biology, 15:262-268.
• Zhu, Y., Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E. 2000. A phylogenetic perspective on sequence evolution in microsatellite loci. Journal of Molecular Evolution 50:324-338.
• Strassmann, J. E., Zhu, Y., and Queller, D. C., 2000 Altruism and social cheating in the social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum. Nature 408:965-967.
• Zhu, Y. Strassmann, J. E., and Queller D. C., 2000. Insertions, substitutions, and the origin of microsatellites. Genetical Research 76:227-236.
• Ezenwa, V. O., Peters, J. M., Hastings, M. D., Zhu, Y., E. Arévalo, Seppä, P. Pedersen, J. S., Zacchi, F. Queller, D. C. Strassmann, J. E. 1998. Ancient conservation of trinucleotide microsatellite loci in polistine wasps. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 10:168-177.
• Strassmann, J. E., Solís, C. R., Hughes, C. R., Goodnight, K. F. and Queller, D. C., 1997. Colony life history and demography of a swarm-founding social wasp. Behav. Ecology & Sociobiol. 40: 71-77.
• Strassmann, J. E., Barefield, K., Solís, C. R., Hughes, C. R., and Queller, D. C., 1997. Trinucleotide microsatellite loci for a social wasp, Polistes. Molecular Ecology 6: 97-100.
• Strassmann, J. E., Queller, D. C., and Hughes, C. R. 1988. Predation and the evolution of sociality in the paper wasp, Polistes bellicosus. Ecology 69:1497-1505.
• Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E. and Hughes, C. R. 1988. Genetic relatedness in colonies of tropical wasps with multiple queens. Science 242:1155-1157.
• Strassmann, J. E., Hughes, C. R., Queller, D. C., Turillazzi, S., Cervo, R., Davis, S. K. and Goodnight, K. F. 1989. Genetic relatedness in primitively eusocial wasps. Nature 342:268-270.
• Strassmann, J.E. 1984. Female-biased sex ratios in social insects lacking morphological castes. Evolution 38:256-266.
• Strassmann, J.E. 1979. Honey caches help female paper wasps (Polistes annularis) survive Texas winters. Science 204:207-209.

External links

• Joan E Strassmann Washington University Website
• Strassmann / Queller Lab website

Blogs

• Sociobiology
• Slow Birding
• Goodbye Houston