One of the main goals of evolutionary biology is to elucidate the role of natural selection in shaping patterns of genetic variation. One especially powerful means of accomplishing this goal involves analyzing DNA sequence variation at genes that underlie fitness-related traits in natural populations. By comparing patterns of DNA variation at such genes with patterns of variation among a random sample of genes in a genome, it should be possible to test predictions about the strength and mode of selection acting on individual genes, and the genomic scale at which selection at one site influences patterns of variation at neighboring sites. The purpose of this study is to use natural populations of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, as a model system to investigate the joint effects of selection, recombination, and gene flow in shaping the pattern of DNA sequence variation at hemoglobin genes that underlie physiological adaptation to high altitude. This system provides a rare opportunity to study functional variation at the DNA sequence level that can be related to selection caused by a specific environmental effect.
This study will involve training for a postdoc and a graduate student and will include an international research experience in Portugal for all participants.
