Associate Professor
Educational Background
- Post Doc, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford University
- Ph.D., 1981, University of California, Davis
- M.A., 1975, San Francisco State University
- A.B., 1972, University of California, Berkeley
Interests:
Genetics; mapping and evolution of complex traits; plant systematics.
Contact:
Neil O. Polans
npolans@niu.edu
(815) 753-7808
Office: MO 338, Lab: MO 317
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
Representative Publications
Moreno, R.R. and N.O. Polans. 2007. Characterization of microsatellite loci using selected pea accessions and recombinant inbred lines (RILs). Pisum Genetics 39:10-12.
Moreno, R.R. and N.O. Polans. 2006. Development and characterization of microsatellite loci in pea. Pisum Genetics 38:10-14.
Diochon, A., Rigg, L.S., Goldblum, D., and N. O. Polans. 2004. The regeneration dynamics and genetic variability of sugar maple (Acer Saccharum) [Marsh.] seedlings at the species' northern growth limit, Superior Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. Physical Geography 24:399-413.
Saar, D.E., Polans, N.O., and P. D. Sorensen. 2003. A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Dahlia (Asteraceae) based on internal and external transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Systematic Botany 28(3): 627-639.
Polans, N.O., and D. E. Saar. 2002. ITS sequence variation in wild species and cultivars of pea. Pisum Genetics 34: 9-14.
Saar, D.E., N.O. Polans, P.D. Sørensen, and M. R. Duvall. 2001. Angiosperm DNA contamination by endophytic fungi: Detection and methods of avoidnace. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 19:249-260.
Saar, D.E. and N.O. Polans. 2000. ITS sequence variation in selected taxa of Pisum. Pisum Genetics 32: 42-45.
Hoey, B.K., Crowe, K.R., Jones, V.M., Polans, N.O. 1996. A phylogenetic analysis of Pisum based on morphological characters, and allozyme and RAPD markers. Theor. Appl. Genet. 92:92-100.
Polans, N.O. Further evidence that Td is located on pea linkage group III. Pisum Genet. 25:36-39; 1993.
Holbrook, G.P., Turner, J.A., Polans, N.O. 1992. Dark inhibition of ribulose 1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in legumes: A biosystematic study. Photosynth. Res. 32:37-44.
Polans, N.O., Folta, K.M. 1992. The mapping of Pea2 supports the assignment of Vc-5 and rb to a specific region of chromosome 3. Pisum Genet. 24:79-81.
Folta, K.M., Polans, N.O. 1992. Evidence suporting the revision and integration of the pea chromosome 7 linkage map. Pisum Genet. 24:44 47.
Polans, N.O., Folta, K.M., Elliott, R.C., Thompson, W.F. 1991. The inheritance and linkage mapping of Ferredoxin-1 in pea. J. Heredity 82:259-261.
Polans, N.O., Corriveau, J.L., Coleman, A.W. 1990. Plastid inheritance in Pisum sativum L. Curr. Genet. 18:477-480.
Piller, K.J., Baerson, S.R., Polans, N.O., Kaufman, L.S. 1989. Structural analysis of the short length ribosomal DNA variant from Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska. Nucleic Acids Res. 18(11):3135-3145; 1990.
Polans, N.O., Allard, R.W. 1989. An experimental evaluation of the recovery potential of ryegrass populations from genetic stress resulting from restriction of population size. Evolution 43(6):1320-1324.
Corriveau, J.L., Polans, N.O., Coleman, A.W. Cultivar variability for the presence of plastid DNA in pollen of Pisum sativum L.: implications for plastid transmission. Curr. Genet. 16:47-51
Research Interests
Current research centers on three interrelated projects:
- The construction of highly-detailed pea linkage maps using classical and molecular markers;
- The use of marker systems to dissect complex genetic traits, including quantitative trait loci (QTLs); and
- The study of the relationships among wild species and cultivars of Pisum using a variety of morphological, biochemical, and molecular characters.