Prof Jaco Greeff

Professor

Qualifications

BSc(Hons) (Rhodes University)
PhD (University of Pretoria)

Teaching subjects

GTS 367 Population and Evolutionary Genetics

Science writing to honours students

Research focus

We are fascinated by the evolution of interactions between relatives, the evolution of reproductive strategies and the genetic footprints these leave in populations. We have been looking at three model systems, fig wasps, humans and nematode worms, and have also conducted theoretical work. We have looked at how conflicts are resolved in families - in fig wasps, mothers regulate the number of sons they produce very carefully in order to minimize competition between their sons. However, if competition between fig wasp males is too intense, despite the mothers’ interventions, they will either evolve to fight with their brothers or they change the scale of competition by dispersing and avoiding conflict with their brothers. In Afrikaner human population we have shown that the non-paternity rate is less than 1%. This suggests that while substantial male sexual jealousy can evolve, we can also understand the substantial paternal investment of our species. We have quantified the structure of interacting individuals - while Spirocerca lupi nematodes infecting one dog are more similar to one another than to random individuals, they are genetically surprisingly homogenized as a result of frequent mixture of parasite populations. By combining information left by dispersal, admixture and the mating system with the biology of organisms we can understand their biology better. By further combining these findings with optimality predictions from models we can understand why organisms have evolved the way they have.

 

Publications

 

• Reid, K., Mitha, J.R., Greeff, J.M. & de Waal, P.J. 2015. Molecular genomics resource for the parasitic nematode Spirocerca lupi: Identification of 149 microsatellite loci using FIASCO and next generation sequencing. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 203, 1-4.

• Greeff J.M. & Erasmus, J.C. 2015. Three hundred years of low non-paternity in a human population. Heredity 115, 396-404.

• Wӧhr, M., Greeff, J.M., Kanzaki, N.  & Giblin-Davis, R.M. 2015. Parasitodiplogaster salicifoliae n. sp. (Nematoda: Diplogastridae) from Ficus ingens and F. salicifolia in South Africa. Nematology 17, 301-311.

• Ahmed, M.Z., Li, S.-J., Xue, X., Yin, X.-J., Re, S.-X., Jiggins, F.M., Greeff, J.M., Qiu, B.-L. 2015. The intracellular bacterium Wolbachia uses parasitoid wasps as phoretic vectors for efficient horizontal transmission. PLoS Pathogens 10(2): e1004672. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1004672

• Coetzee, V., Greeff, J.M., Stephen,I.D. & Perrett, D.I. 2014. Cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences: the role of Ethnicity and Gender. PLoS ONE  9(7): e99629. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099629

• Greeff, J.M. & Erasmus, J.C. 2013. Appel Botha Cornelitz: the abc of a three hundred year old divorce case. Forensic Science International: Genetics 7: 550-554. doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2013.06.008

•Ahmed, M.Z., Greyvenstein, O.F.C., Erasmus, J.C., Welch, J.J. & Greeff, J.M. 2013. Consistently high incidence of Wolbachia in global fig wasp communities. Ecological Entomology 38, 147–154. doi: 10.1111/een.12002

• de Waal, P., Gous A., Clift, S.J. & Greeff, J.M. 2012. High within-host genetic variation of the nematode Spirocerca lupi in a high-density urban dog population. Veterinary Parasitology. 187, 259-266. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.12.008

• Nelson, R.M. & Greeff J.M. 2011. Sex ratio dependent dispersal when sex ratios vary between patches. Journal of Theoretical Biology 290, 81-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.08.030

• Greeff, J.M. & Newman D.K.V. 2011. Testing models of facultative sex ratio adjustment in the pollinating wasp Platyscapa awekei. Evolution 65, 203–219.

• Nelson, R.M. & Greeff, J.M. 2011. Evolutionary stable mixed mating in a variety of genetic systems. Evolutionary Ecology 25, 291–306.

• Warren, M., Robertson M.P. & Greeff, J.M. 2010. A comparative approach to understanding factors limiting abundance patterns and distributions in a fig tree- fig wasp mutualism. Ecography 33, 148-158.

• Greeff, J.M., Jansen van Vuuren, G.J., Kryger, P. & Moore, J.C. 2009. Outbreeding and possibly inbreeding depression in a pollinating fig wasp with a mixed mating system. Heredity 102, 349–356.

• Nelson, R.M. & Greeff, J.M. 2009. Evolution of the scale and manner of brother competition in pollinating fig wasps. Animal Behaviour 77, 693–700

 

 

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List of current Postgraduate students

PhD Students

Junyin Deng

Christoff Erasmus

Meike Wöhr

MSc Students

Bery Flatela
Nico Chung
Karina Pentz
 

Editorial Board:

Frontiers in Zoology