Abstract

The exploration of adaptation has been a keystone of evolutionary biology research since Darwin published Origin of Species. Despite this long history of investigation, the genetic basis of adaptation has only recently been studied in a comprehensive manner, primarily because until recently, the necessary genetic and genomic technologies were unavailable. One signature of adaptation in species with high migration rates is genetic differentiation between populations of the same species. In such cases, local selection in different environments is strong enough to overcome the homogenizing force of gene flow. The proposed work seeks to explore the genomics of adaptation along latitudinal clines in the genetic model system, Drosophila melanogaster. The work will use microarray analysis, DNA sequencing, and genetics, to describe variation in genes (and the associated phenotypes) influenced by spatially varying selection in D. melanogaster.

Public Health Relevance

The goal of this project is to use genomic technologies, population genetic approaches, and genetic analysis to understand variation in the Drosophila genome affecting phenotypes related to gametogenesis, meiosis and DNA repair. These approaches could eventually be used in human populations.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM084056-02
Application #
7810621
Study Section
Genetic Variation and Evolution Study Section (GVE)
Program Officer
Eckstrand, Irene A
Project Start
2009-05-01
Project End
2013-04-30
Budget Start
2010-05-01
Budget End
2011-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$299,894
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
University of California Davis
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
047120084
City
Davis
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
95618

  Publications

Svetec, Nicolas; Cridland, Julie M; Zhao, Li et al. (2016) The Adaptive Significance of Natural Genetic Variation in the DNA Damage Response of Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS Genet 12:e1005869
Sedghifar, Alisa; Saelao, Perot; Begun, David J (2016) Genomic Patterns of Geographic Differentiation in Drosophila simulans. Genetics 202:1229-40
Schrider, Daniel R; Hahn, Matthew W; Begun, David J (2016) Parallel Evolution of Copy-Number Variation across Continents in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol Biol Evol 33:1308-16
Svetec, Nicolas; Zhao, Li; Saelao, Perot et al. (2015) Evidence that natural selection maintains genetic variation for sleep in Drosophila melanogaster. BMC Evol Biol 15:41
Zhao, Li; Wit, Janneke; Svetec, Nicolas et al. (2015) Parallel Gene Expression Differences between Low and High Latitude Populations of Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. PLoS Genet 11:e1005184
Reinhardt, Josie A; Kolaczkowski, Bryan; Jones, Corbin D et al. (2014) Parallel geographic variation in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 197:361-73
Zhao, Li; Saelao, Perot; Jones, Corbin D et al. (2014) Origin and spread of de novo genes in Drosophila melanogaster populations. Science 343:769-72
Hamm, Christopher A; Begun, David J; Vo, Alexandre et al. (2014) Wolbachia do not live by reproductive manipulation alone: infection polymorphism in Drosophila suzukii and D. subpulchrella. Mol Ecol 23:4871-85
Chiu, Joanna C; Jiang, Xuanting; Zhao, Li et al. (2013) Genome of Drosophila suzukii, the spotted wing drosophila. G3 (Bethesda) 3:2257-71
Schrider, Daniel R; Begun, David J; Hahn, Matthew W (2013) Detecting highly differentiated copy-number variants from pooled population sequencing. Pac Symp Biocomput :344-55

Showing the most recent 10 out of 12 publications