Anthony Douglas Long
Biography
Anthony Douglas Long, Ph.D., is Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine, where he has been on the faculty since 1998. His research focuses on the genetic architecture of complex traits and experimental evolution, using model organisms including Drosophila melanogaster, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Peromyscus leucopus to understand how genetic variation contributes to phenotypic diversity and adaptation.
Long has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation since 1999, with research projects examining topics ranging from quantitative trait locus mapping and linkage disequilibrium to chemotherapy drug toxicity and host response to tickborne disease. He played a central role in developing the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource, a community framework for genetic analysis of complex traits. His work spans multiple systems and scales, from butterfly wing pattern evolution in Bicyclus anynana to thermal adaptation in Escherichia coli and the genomics of Lyme disease reservoirs.
Long received his Ph.D. from McMaster University in 1994 and completed postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009. Long has served on numerous NIH grant review panels, including as a permanent member of the GCAT study section from 2011 to 2016. He has trained numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to faculty positions at institutions including the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, and Oregon State University.
Return to topEducation
- Bachelor of Arts & Science in Biology, McMaster University, 1988
- Master of Science in Biology, McMaster University, 1991
- Doctor of Philosophy, McMaster University, 1994
Distinctions
- AAAS Fellow, 2009
- Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Scholar-in-Residence at the Chateau de la Bretesche (France), 2014
- Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Undergraduate Summer Scholarship, 1988
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Fellowship, 1989-1992
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Post Doctoral Fellowship, 1995-1997
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 1992-1993
Areas of Expertise
- Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics
- Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping
- Transposable Element Polymorphisms
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Experimental Evolution Yeast Populations
- Chemotherapy Toxicity Resistance
- Tickborne Disease Host Response
Recent Publications
- Long A.D., Hanson K.M., Macdonald S.J., “The illusion of polygenicity in pool-seq genetic mapping studies: insufficient power can mask simple genetic architectures” (opens in new tab), Genetics, vol. 233, 2026.
- Ruckman S.N., Long A.D., “Leveraging low-cost short-read sequencing: revolutionizing complex trait genetics” (opens in new tab), Molecular Biology and Evolution, vol. 43, 2026.
- Hanson KM, Long AD, Macdonald SJ, “Extreme QTL mapping enables the identification of novel zinc toxicity response loci in Drosophila melanogaster” (opens in new tab), Genetics, vol. 231, pp. iyaf173, 2025.
- Duong J.V., Motiwala A., Hotz W.J., Gozashti L., Long A.D., Barbour A.G., “Dermal fibroblast cultures recapitulate differences between deermice and mice in their responses to a Toll-like receptor agonist” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Immunology, vol. 16, 2025.
- Barbour AG, Duong JV, Long AD, “Lyme Disease Agent Reservoirs Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus Have Natively Inactivated Genes for the High-Affinity Immunoglobulin Gamma Fc Receptor I (CD64)” (opens in new tab), Pathogens, vol. 12, 2023.
- Huynh K, Smith BR, Macdonald SJ, Long AD, “Genetic variation in chromatin state across multiple tissues in Drosophila melanogaster” (opens in new tab), PLoS Genetics, vol. 19, pp. e1010439, 2023.
- Macdonald SJ, Cloud-Richardson KM, Sims-West DJ, Long AD, “Powerful, efficient QTL mapping in Drosophila melanogaster using bulked phenotyping and pooled sequencing” (opens in new tab), Genetics, vol. 220, pp. iyab238, 2022.
- Long PN, Cook VJ, Majumder A, Barbour AG, Long AD, “The utility of a closed breeding colony of Peromyscus leucopus for dissecting complex traits” (opens in new tab), Genetics, vol. 221, pp. iyac026, 2022.
- Linder RA, Zabanavar B, Majumder A, Hoang HCS, Delgado VG, Tran R, La VT, Leemans SW, Long AD, “Adaptation in Outbred Sexual Yeast is Repeatable, Polygenic and Favors Rare Haplotypes” (opens in new tab), Molecular Biology and Evolution, vol. 39, 2022.
- Macdonald SJ, Long AD, “Discovery of malathion resistance QTL in Drosophila melanogaster using a bulked phenotyping approach” (opens in new tab), G3 Genes Genomes Genetics, vol. 12, 2022.
- Solares EA, Tao Y, Long AD, Gaut BS, “HapSolo: an optimization approach for removing secondary haplotigs during diploid genome assembly and scaffolding” (opens in new tab), BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 6, pp. 9, 2021.
- Shahrestani P, King E, Ramezan R, Phillips M, “The molecular architecture of Drosophila melanogaster defense against Beauveria bassiana explored through evolve and resequence and quantitative trait locus mapping” (opens in new tab), G3 Genes Genomes Genetics, vol. 11, pp. jkab324, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Baldi, P., Long, A.D., “A Bayesian framework for the analysis of microarray expression data: regularized t-test and statistical inference of gene change” (opens in new tab), Bioinformatics, vol. 17, pp. 1-11, 2001.
- Chakraborty M, Baldwin-Brown JG, Long AD, Emerson JJ, “Contiguous and accurate de novo assembly of metazoan genomes with modest long read coverage” (opens in new tab), Nucleic acids research, vol. 44, pp. e147, 2016.
- Burke, M.K., Dunham, J.P., Shahrestani, P., Thornton, K.R., Rose, M.R., Long, A.D., “Genome-wide analysis of a long-term evolution experiment with Drosophila” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 467, pp. 587-590, 2010.
- Long, A.D., Langley, C.H., “The power of association studies to detect the contribution of candidate genetic loci to variation in complex traits”, Genome Research, vol. 9, pp. 720-731, 1999.
- Long, A.D., Mangalam, H.J., Chan, B.Y.P., Tolleri, L., Hatfield, G.W., Baldi, P., “Improved statistical inference from DNA microarray data using analysis of variance and a Bayesian statistical framework: Analysis of global gene expression in Escherichia coli K12” (opens in new tab), Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 276, pp. 19937-19944, 2001.
- Riehle, M.M., Bennett, A., Long, A.D., “Genetic architecture of thermal adaptation in E. coli” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 98, pp. 525-530, 2001.
- Arfin, S.M., Long, A.D., Ito, E.T., Riehle, M.M., Paegle, E.S., Hatfield, G.W., “Global gene expression profiling in Escherichia coli K12: The effects of integration host factor” (opens in new tab), Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 275, pp. 29672-29684, 2000.
- Gaut BS, Long AD, “The lowdown on linkage disequilibrium” (opens in new tab), The Plant Cell, vol. 15, pp. 1502-1506, 2003.
- Long, A.D., Mullaney, S.L., Reid, L.A., Fry, J.D., Langley, C.H., Mackay, T.F.C., “High resolution mapping of genetic factors affecting abdominal bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster”, Genetics, vol. 139, pp. 1273-1291, 1995.
- Long A, Liti G, Luptak A, Tenaillon O, “Elucidating the molecular architecture of adaptation via evolve and resequence experiments” (opens in new tab), Nature reviews Genetics, vol. 16, pp. 567-82, 2015.
Contact Information
Email: tdlong@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-2562
Address: 5210 McGaugh Hall
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Last updated on 5/19/2026.