Life Sciences Seminar: An Integrative Genomics Framework for Studying the Ecology and Evolution of Human Disease Vectors
Life Sciences Seminar
An Integrative Genomics Framework for Studying the Ecology and Evolution of Human Disease Vectors
Dr. Kevin C. Deitz
Abstract:
A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how genetic variation contributes to phenotypic variation in a natural context. Connecting nucleotide-level alterations to their phenotypic consequences is especially challenging when multiple alleles impacting phenotypic variation segregate within a population, and/or mutations have pleiotropic effects impacting multiple phenotypes. Thus, understanding how causative alleles underlying phenotypic traits combine, accumulate, and rise to fixation within a population or species represents a major hurdle in our understanding of phenotypic evolution. Using examples from the recently diverged Anopheles gambiae complex of human malaria mosquitoes and the Drosophila yakuba clade of non-model fruit flies, I will discuss how we can use population, evolutionary, and quantitative genomics to identify cryptic species, map genes responsible for reproductive isolation between species, and understand how the effective population sizes of species influence how selection impacts their genetic variation and divergence. I will also describe ongoing and future research projects aimed at: developing new transgenic targets for malaria mosquito control, understanding how endogenous viral elements impact the adaptive immunity of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, and dissecting tissue-specific epigenetic and cis-regulatory evolution of the Anopheles gambiae complex.
Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates. Those with interest in the topic.
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Event Snapshot
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This is an RIT Only Event
Interpreter Requested?
No