Gene duplication and the subsequent evolution of the duplicates is an important source of genetic and functional novelty in all three domains of life. As the African cichlid fishes have undergone rapid, recent and repeated speciation events, they constitute an ideal model with which to test long-standing hypotheses about the role of gene duplication in evolutionary expansion, speciation and adaptation to the environment. This project will employ modern genomic techniques using genomic hybridization to identify duplicated genes. Gene duplicate number, gene duplication rate and retention of gene duplicates from specific functional categories will be investigated for an association with enhanced speciation as well as ecological diversification. Sequence analysis of duplicated genes across this group of fishes will address the degree to which natural selection is responsible for the evolution of gene duplicates.
In addition to the significant contribution to genomic resources for the cichlid research community, this project also advances a broad range of studies concerning the evolution of duplicated genes and their contribution to diversity and adaptation. The project, conducted at Reed College, will strengthen the genomics/bioinformatics program, capitalizing upon the PIs interdisciplinary collaborations. The cutting edge techniques and manipulation of large datasets will provide a rigorous training through the formation of an interdisciplinary research team involving undergraduate students of mathematics and biology. Furthermore, the research will be directly linked with the PIs teaching in Comparative Functional Genomics and will be incorporated into outreach teaching modules on animal diversity and genome evolution.
