A major outstanding question in evolutionary biology asks how repeatable evolution is at the level of genes and at the level of phenotype (i.e., visible characteristics such as body size). In other words, if we could rewind the evolutionary clock and view the process again and again, would evolution lead to the same solutions to adaptive challenges each time? Dr. Estes will address these questions using the soil nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. Previous work has shown that populations of these nematodes harboring many deleterious genetic mutations (and thus exhibiting reduced fitness) can rapidly recover fitness via the acquisition of secondary mutations that compensate for the original deleterious mutations. Dr. Estes will determine the identity of these underlying "compensatory" mutations, whether they occur in the same genetic pathways as the original mutations, and whether replicate populations take the same evolutionary route to fitness recovery (i.e., do populations tend to acquire the same compensatory mutations?). Experimental evolution, traditional genetic analyses, and microarray technology allowing measurement of the level of expression of individual genes will be employed to address the above questions.
This work will integrate research and education through training of undergraduate researchers, including future science educators. Through involvement with American Indians in Science and Engineering and the Educational Equity Programs at Portland State University, undergraduate researchers are being sought to participate in this and other projects. Also, talented minority graduate students are being sought through advertising with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the Evolution Directory. Dr. Estes will serve as co-advisor for a Master's of Science in Teaching student, an undergraduate researcher, and one postdoctoral associate assisting with this and other projects.
