The primary efforts in this research project focus on determining the physiological and genetic mechanisms that control the response of animals to rapid climate change. The work aims to show whether genetic (evolutionary) response to climate change has occurred by the alteration of existing genes or involves the recruitment of completely new genes. Determining the correct mechanism of response to rapid climate change is important for accurate prediction and mitigation of the spread of disease vectors from tropical to temperate zones, for agricultural development in the face of a changing world, and for conserving biodiversity.
The research program takes advantage of the unique qualities of a small mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii, that lives throughout much of eastern North America. W. smithii bites humans in some parts of its range and never bites humans in other parts of its range. This very unusual behavior will be exploited through a microarray-based expression analysis to identify the genes that alter expression of biting behavior in disease vectors such as mosquitoes. Finally, this small mosquito takes a long winter "nap". However, unlike typical animals that become dormant, W. smithii remains active, feeds and grows, but does not develop, even under ideal conditions. This resting period increases life span in this mosquito and may allow us to isolate novel genes that control longevity in humans.
The PI has an ongoing commitment to involving minorities and undergraduates in all levels of research, with special emphasis on honors students engaging in original independent projects.
The major goal of EAGER funding was to bring the technical aspects of our research as originally planned into concordance with leading edge technologies, both in terms of the experiments themselves and the horizons and acquired skills of both the senior and undergraduate participants. During the time period between when we submitted our original grants and the time when funds were actually available to us, advances in molecular genetics and genomics had greatly outpaced the techniques we had originally proposed. We could have completed the research as planned in our NSF grant (IOS-0839998) using our limited in-house microarrays. However, by the time the grant was awarded, we had acquired a 95% complete record of all genes expressed in our research organism, the pitcher-plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii. EAGER funding then enabled us to capitalize on more modern, more sophisticated, and more productive genomic approaches than those we had originally proposed. The major contribution of EAGER funding has been to expand and vastly improve the repertoire of genomic and bioinformatic tools we have been able to use in the pursuit of already funded research and to expand into a new area involving the permanent loss of blood feeding in northern populations of Wyeomyia smithii. EAGER funding was directed, as intended, 100% towards advancing technology; no funds were used for direct support of any personnel, equipment, materials and supplies, or travel. The benefits of EAGER funding have been far more extensive even than we had envisioned and extended beyond strictly technology. EAGER funding enabled our lab to expand its intellectual horizons in genomics and bioinformatics among the PIs, the graduate students, and the many undergraduates working in our lab, whether or not they, themselves, were directly involved in the molecular aspects of the research. We used the improved technology afforded by EAGER funding us to extend our research into and new area of endeavor: the permanent evolutionary loss of blood feeding in northern populations of our mosquito. The implications are huge: mosquito-borne diseases kill more people world-wide than any other communicable disease, including AIDS. For mosquitoes to infect a new host, including humans, livestock, and wildlife, they must bite and inject saliva into the host organism. IF THERE IS NO BITE, THERE IS NO SPREAD OF DISEASE. Hence, we are taking advantage of the permanent, genetically based loss of biting to ask: What genes have been turned on or off that prevent mosquitoes from even being interested in biting? Wyeomyia smithii is particularly well suited to pursing this question because it is the only mosquito that possesses fully interfertile populations that either bite or never bite within the same species. Hence, W. smithii presents a unique model organism in which to probe the genetic basis of blood feeding and its loss both within and among populations at the genetic and genomic level. Research on blood feeding requires animals for the mosquitoes to bite and we have been using lab rats, mainly recycled from other labs using them for different purposes. The availability to conduct experiments with vertebrates in the context of vector-borne disease has attracted more undergraduate pre-vet, pre-med, and pre-professional animal care workers to our lab. Hence, EAGER funding has enabled us to expand graduate and undergraduate training in our lab to include mosquito-borne disease in a physiological, genetic, and evolutionary context. Note: No EAGER funds were used to pay students involved in the care and use of rats and funds for the purchase and care of rats came from institutional funds and from DEB-0917827 as approved by NSF on 22 June, 2012. The care and handling of rats were carried out under protocols approved by the University IACUC committee (#10-11RRA). /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
