Pierce Lab Special Seminar
Noah Whitman
(University of California at Berkeley)
Genomic basis of adaptation in a herbivorous drosophilid fly
The repeated evolution of herbivory in insects gave rise to one of the most species-rich guilds of life on Earth. In this presentation, I will highlight what is known and not known about the mechanisms driving the success of herbivorous insects. I will start with established and new evidence from macreoevolutionary patterns across the entire insect tree of life, including extinct and extant branches, and I will end with an in-depth study of a single branch, the Drosophilidae within the Diptera, where herbivory has evolved at least 25 times independently. This affords a particularly salient view of the genomic architecture underpinning transitions to herbivory. I will share new insights that my research group has gained into the genomic basis of this major life history transition within the lineage Scaptomyza. The oligophagous S. flava attacks plants in the Brassicales, including Arabidopsis thaliana. The interaction between these two lineages is the focus of a series of functional genomics, population genomics and experimental evolutionary studies to dissect the basis of the successful transition to herbivory from microbe-feeding ancestors.
LOCATION:Agassiz Room, 1st floor MCZ STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20161014T160000Z DTEND:20161014T160000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR