The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Kevin Rowe, who will collaborate with Prof. Peter Baversotck at Southern Cross University in New South Wales, Australia and Prof. Craig Moritz, director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and affiliate of the Center for Integrative Genomics at the University of California, Berkeley.
The genus Rattus, originating in Southeast Asia, is one the fastest expanding organisms and is widespread throughout every continent except Antarctica. Few organisms have as much contact with and significance to human populations; Rattus are critical vectors for disease, major crop pests, and important biological models for physiological, toxicological and medical studies. Like other rodents, Rattus have prolific reproductive rates, and have perhaps the greatest propensity for population expansion and invasion of any rodent. The nature of Rattus is one of expansion and diversification. To understand the success and spread of this organism we must evaluate its expansions, adaptations and diversification. This project investigates population expansions, adaptive divergence, and reproductive isolation (diversification) among two closely related Australian Rattus species. Australia is an important location to begin the investigation of the expansions of the genus Rattus as it represents a terminal expansion point near the origin of Rattus in Southeast Asia. This project utilizes the recently completed genome of Rattus norvegicus to evaluate genetic changes resulting from the recent expansion and reproductive isolation of two species of Rattus in Australia. Comparisons of the genomes of humans, Mus (mouse), and Rattus, demonstrate that the vast majority of functional differences in protein sequences are limited to immunological proteins, toxicity proteins, and olfactory/odorant proteins. The recent evolution and divergence of Australian Rattus provide a unique opportunity to apply genomic information from the Rattus norvegicus genome to address fundamental evolutionary questions. Prof. Baverstock is expert on the evolution of Australian Rattus, particularly the genetic basis of reproductive isolation. Prof. Moritz provides extensive computational skills and advanced infrastructure for genomic analyses. Thus, this project fosters the exchange of ideas between these distinguished scientists and supports transfer of this information to Dr. Rowe that will be the foundation for his academic career in the United States.
