Member Institutions:

• Bowling Green State U.
• Cleveland State U.
• Kent State U.
• Medical College of Ohio
• Miami U.
• The Ohio State U.
• Ohio U.
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo
• Wright State U.
• Youngstown State U.

Research Interests

My research interests are in the areas of molecular evolution and the way that gene frequencies change over the course of time in populations of organisms. On-going work involves characterizing the way that a gene's context influences the mutations it accumulates as well as determining the role of highly repeated elements that constitute as much as 15% of the DNA within mammalian nuclei.

We have also recently developed a technique that allows us to quickly and precisely measure the amount of genetic diversity a population harbors at a molecular level. Since high levels of genetic diversity better allow groups of organisms to respond to stresses they encounter in their environments it is also an excellent measure of the population's vigor and productivity. Environmental insults such as pollution can significantly diminish a naturally occurring population's genetic diversity however and we are currently using our methodology to more closely examine the true impact of such events.

Selected Publications

• Carulli, J. P., D. E. Krane, D. L. Hartl and H. Ochman. 1993. Compositional heterogeneity and patterns of molecular evolution in the Drosophila genome. Genetics, 134:837-845.
• Sawyer, S., A. Podleski, D. Krane and D. Hartl. 1996. DNA fingerprinting loci do show population differences. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 59:272-274.
• Skepner, A. P. and D. E. Krane. 1997. cpDNA of Acer saccharum and Acer nigrum are very similar. OH. J. Sci., 97:90-94.
• Skepner, A. P. and D. E. Krane. 1998. RAPD reveals genetic similarity of Acer saccharum and Acer nigrum. Heredity, in press.
• Krane, D. E., D. Sternburg and G. A. Burton. 1998. Measures of genetic diversity within crayfish (O. rusticus) provide a sensitive measure of environmental insults. Environ. Toxicol. Chem., 18:504-508.
• Krane, D. E. 2001. Intraspecies genetic diversity measures of environmental impacts. American Chemical Society Conference proceedings on EPA and EPA sponsored research, in press (15 pages).
• Newburn, E. and D. E. Krane. 2001. Molecular identification of Chironomid species. American Chemical Society Conference proceedings on EPA and EPA sponsored research, in press (14 pages).

Current Research Funding

• Support from contract work totaling $93,400 for consultations in the area of forensic DNA profiling totaling (1993 to present).
• Principal investigator: U.S. EPA grant for $420,277 for "Intraspecies genetic diversity measures of environmental impacts." (1998 to 2002).
• Principal investigator: Wright State University Early Start/Augmentation grant for $17,998 for "DNA quantification center for assessing changes in genetic diversity levels" (1999 to 2001).
• Principal investigator: NSF grant for $552,000 for "Crossing the Interdisciplinary Barrier: An Integrated Undergraduate Program in Bioinformatics" (2001 to 2004)
• Principal investigator: Wright State University Technology Commercialization Grant for $99,941 for "Commercialization of forensic DNA typing expertise." (2001 to 2002).

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