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L:R Katelyn Mika, Nick Molby, Kristi Montooth, Luke Hoekstra
Overview
Tracing the reciprocal paths from nucleotide variation to organismal fitness variation is of key importance to understanding:
1) how physiological traits evolve to fit organisms to their ecologies, and
2) what evolutionary forces shape the genetic and biochemical pathways underlying physiological change.
Energetic pathways provide systems of genes within which we can link genetic variation and divergence in gene expression, enzyme activity and whole-organism physiological performance, such as flight velocity or ethanol tolerance, under controlled experimental manipulation. Our research program integrates experimental, comparative, quantitative genetic, population genetic/genomic, bioinformatic and molecular genetic approaches to link genes to their evolutionarily significant function.
Drosophila have a unique ecology and physiology, acquiring nutrient resources in habitats ranging from desert cactus rots to ethanol-rich vineyards and using these resources to maintain aerobic metabolism during hovering flight. While Drosophilids are particularly amenable to combining comparative, population genetic/genomic and molecular genetic techniques, our approach is not limited to working with “model” organisms. Members of the lab are encouraged to choose study organisms based on the investigation of physiological adaptations that offer insight into the evolutionary forces shaping genetic and phenotypic variation and divergence in natural populations.
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