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Antarctic Ecosystem Research

Environmental Research

Fisheries Ecology

Fisheries Resources

Marine Mammal and Turtle

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Director's Office

Operations, Management and Information

Contact Information:

Southwest Fisheries Science Center
8901 La Jolla Shores Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037-1508
Phone: (858) 546-7000
Fax: (858) 546-7003

Division Locations

La Jolla, CA
Santa Cruz, CA
Pacific Grove, CA

Field Stations

Antarctic Peninsula
Arcata, CA
Granite Canyon, CA
Piedras Blancas, CA

Phillip A Morin

Research Molecular Geneticist

Marine Mammal and Turtle Division

Contact Information:

Phone: (858) 546-7165
Fax: (858) 546-7003
E-mail: Phillip.Morin@noaa.gov

Programs:

Marine Mammal Genetics

Research Interests:

My research has focused on the application of genetics to disease research, on conservation in a variety of terrestrial organisms, and now on marine organisms. I previously studied the evolution, phylogeography, and social structure of chimpanzees and other primates. I then moved into biotechnology research, and for 5 years (1995-1999) I worked in human genetic disease biotechnology, applying high-throughput microsatellite and SNP genotyping to linkage and association studies of complex disease, in human and baboon study populations. In 1999 I moved to Leipzig, Germany, where I formed the Laboratory for Conservation Genetics (LCG) as an incubator project within the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. The LCG developed and applied genetics technologies for conservation, and performed basic research to improve genetics technologies for molecular ecology. I joined the SWFSC Marine Mammal Genetics Group in 2003. Current projects include the development of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) as new molecular markers for population genetics studies, use of real-time PCR for DNA quantification, sex determination, and genotyping, and molecular methods for extracting and amplifying DNA from historical and preserved samples. Since 2008 the advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have allowed us to sequence hundreds of whole mitochondrial genomes for population and phylogeography studies, and to rapidly obtain dozens of nuclear sequences from population samples for SNP discovery.

Selected Publications:

Roden, S.E., Morin, P.A., Frey, A., Balazs, G.H., Zarate, P., Cheng, I.-J., Dutton, P.H., 2013. Green turtle population structure in the Pacific: new insights from SNPs and microsatellites. Molecular Ecology in press.
Hancock-Hanser, B., Frey, A., Leslie, M., Dutton, P.H., Archer, E.I., Morin, P.A., 2013. Targeted multiplex next-generation sequencing: Advances in techniques of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing for population genomics Mol Ecol Res 13, 254-268.
Morin, P.A., Archer, F.I., Pease, V.L., Hancock-Hanser, B.L., Robertson, K.M., Huebinger, R.M., Martien, K.K., Bickham, J.W., George, J.C., Postma, L.D., Taylor, B.L., 2012. Empirical comparison of single nucleotide polymorphisms and microsatellites for population and demographic analyses of bowhead whales. Endangered Species Research 19, 129-147.
Duchene, S., Frey, A., Alfaro-Núñez, A., Dutton, P.H., Gilbert, M.T.P., Morin, P.A., 2012. Marine turtle mitogenome phylogenetics and evolution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65, 241-250.
Foote, A.D., Hofreiter, M., Morin, P.A., 2012. Ancient DNA from marine mammals: studying long-lived species over ecological and evolutionary timescales. Annals of Anatomy 194, 112-120.
Vilstrup, J.T., Ho, S.Y.W., Foote, A.D., Morin, P.A., Kreb, D., Krützen, M., Parra, G.J., Robertson, K.M., de Stephanis, R., Verborgh, P., Willerslev, E., Orlando, L., Gilbert, M.T.P., 2011. Mitogenomic phylogenetic analyses of the Delphinidae with an emphasis on the Globicephalinae. BMC Evolutionary Biology 11, 65.
Mesnick, S., Taylor, B., Archer, E.I., Martien, K., Escorza Treviño, S., Hancock, B.L., Moreno Medina, S.C., Pease, V.L., Robertson, K.M., Straley, J.M., Baird, R., Calambokidis, J., Wade, P., Burkanov, V., Lunsford, C.R., Rendell, L., Whitehead, H., Morin, P.A., 2011. Sperm whale population structure in the eastern North Pacific inferred by the use of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA. Mol Ecol Res 11 (suppl. 1), 278-298.
Foote, A.D., Morin, P.A., Durban, J.W., Willerslev, E., Orlando, L., Gilbert, M.T.P., 2011. Out of the Pacific and back again: insights into the matrilineal history of Pacific killer whale ecotypes. PLoS ONE 6, e24980.
Foote, A.D., Morin, P.A., Durban, J.W., Pitman, R.L., Wade, P., Willerslev, E., Gilbert, M.T.P., da Fonseca, R.R., 2011. Positive selection on the killer whale mitogenome. Biology Letters 7, 116-118.
Duchene, S., Archer, F.I., Vilstrup, J., Caballero, S., Morin, P.A., 2011. Mitogenome phylogenetics: The impact of using single regions and partitioning schemes on topology, substitution rate and divergence time estimation. PLoS ONE 6, e27138.
Taylor, B.L., Martien, K.K., Morin, P.A., 2010. Identifying units to conserve using genetic data. In: Boyd, I., Bowen, D., Iverson, S. (Eds.), Marine Mammal Ecology and Conservation: A handbook of techniques. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 306-324.
Morin, P.A., Martien, K.K., Archer, F.I., Cipriano, F., Steel, D., Jackson, J., Taylor, B.L., 2010. Applied conservation genetics and the need for quality control and reporting of genetic data used in fisheries and wildlife management. Journal of Heredity 10, 1-10.
Morin, P.A., Archer, F.I., Foote, A.D., Vilstrup, J., Allen, E.E., Wade, P., Durban, J., Parsons, K., Pitman, R., Li, L., Bouffard, P., Nielsen, S.A., Rasmussen, M., Willerslev, E., Gilbert, M.T.P., Harkins, T., 2010. Complete mitochondrial genome phylogeographic analysis of killer whales (Orcinus orca) indicates multiple species. Genome Research 20, 908-916.
Morin, P.A., Martien, K.K., Taylor, B.L., 2009. Assessing statistical power of SNPs for population structure and conservation studies. Mol Ecol Res 9, 66-73.
Morin, P.A., Manaster, C., Mesnick, S.L., Holland, R., 2009. Normalization and binning of historical and multi-source microsatellite data: overcoming the problems of allele size shift with ALLELOGRAM. Mol Ecol Res 9, 1451-1455.
Morin, P.A., LeDuc, R.G., Archer, F.I., Martien, K.K., Huebinger, R., Bickham, J.W., Taylor, B.L., 2009. Significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium caused by low levels of microsatellite genotyping errors. Mol Ecol Res 9, 498-504.
Morin, P.A., Dizon, A.E., 2009. Genetics for management. In: Perrin, W.F., Würsig, B., Thewissen, J.G.M. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Second Edition. Elsevier Inc., Amsterdam, pp. 477-483.
LeDuc, R.G., Martien, K.K., Morin, P.A., Hedrick, N.M., Robertson, K.M., Taylor, B.L., Mugue, N.S., Borodin, R.G., Zelenina, D.A., George, J.C., 2008. Mitochondrial genetic variation in bowhead whales in the western Arctic. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 10, 93-97.
Morin, P.A., McCarthy, M., 2007. Highly accurate SNP genotyping from historical and low-quality samples. Molecular Ecology Notes 7, 937-946.
Morin, P.A., LeDuc, R.G., Archer, F.I., Martien, K.K., Taylor, B.L., Huebinger, R., Bickham, J.W., 2007. Estimated genotype error rates from bowhead whale microsatellite data. International Whaling Commission, Anchorage, AK.
Morin, P.A., Hedrick, N.M., Robertson, K.M., LeDuc, C.A., 2007. Comparative mitochondrial and nuclear quantitative PCR of historical marine mammal tissue, bone, baleen, and tooth samples. Molecular Ecology Notes 7, 404-411.
Morin, P.A., LeDuc, R.G., Robertson, K.M., Hedrick, N.M., Perrin, W.F., Etnier, M., Wade, P., Taylor, B.L., 2006. Genetic analysis of killer whale (Orcinus orca) historical bone and tooth samples to identify western U.S. ecotypes. Marine Mammal Science 22, 897-909.
Smith, S., Morin, P.A., 2005. Optimal storage conditions for highly dilute DNA samples: a role for trehalose as a preserving agent. J Forensic Sci 50, 1101-1108.
Morin, P.A., Nestler, A., Rubio-Cisneros, N.T., Robertson, K.M., Mesnick, S.L., 2005. Interfamilial characterization of a region of the ZFX and ZFY genes facilitates sex determination in cetaceans and other mammals. Mol Ecol 14, 3275-3286.
Iyengar, A., Babu, V.N., Hedges, S., Venkataraman, A., MacLean, N., Morin, P.A., 2005. Phylogeography, genetic structure, and diversity in the dhole (Cuon alpinus). Molecular Ecology 14, 2281-2297.
Wayne, R.K., Morin, P.A., 2004. Conservation genetics in the new molecular age. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2, 89-97.
Roeder, A.D., Archer, F.I., Poinar, H., Morin, P.A., 2004. A novel method for collection and preservation of feces for genetic studies. Molecular Ecology Notes 4, 761-764.
Morin, P.A., Luikart, G., Wayne, R.K., Grp, S.W., 2004. SNPs in ecology, evolution and conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 19, 208-216.
Aitken, N., Smith, S., Schwarz, C., Morin, P.A., 2004. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery in mammals: a targeted-gene approach. Molecular Ecology 13, 1423-1431.

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