PhD student, Rosenthal lab
Department of Biology
and Interdisciplinary Research Group in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology,
Centro
de Investigaciones Científicas de las Huastecas “Aguazarca”
Education: B.S. with High Distinction - University of Illinois
(Urbana) – Kim Hughes (Advisor), Undergraduate Thesis: “No associations between
an MHC class-II gene and parasite resistance in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)”
Research Interests: Evolutionary genetics of sexual selection,
population genetics, mechanisms maintaining genetic variation (particularly
adaptive genetic variation such as MHC genes)
I have broad interests in
the areas of behavior, ecological and evolutionary genetics, particularly as
they pertain to mate choice and sexual selection, and a general interest in the
mechanisms maintaining genetic variation in natural populations. The current focus of my dissertation is an
investigation of population genetics in Xiphophorus
hybrid zones of eastern
Single nucleotide
polymorphism (SNP) genotyping and DNA sequencing of a limited number of loci
have shown significant spatial variation in population structure among hybrid
zones found along replicated ecological gradients in at least six stream
reaches. The goal of my dissertation is
to understand how genetic variation is distributed along the hybrid zones and
how patterns are similar or different across hybrid zones and to characterize
the role of female mate choice in structuring populations.
Mating simulations on current
SNP data suggest that different mating patterns account for variation in
population structure in different populations.
By combining analyses of behavior, genetics and theory I can better
determine what processes are determining population structure and the role of
female mate choice. To accomplish this I
am conducting mate choice assays in the lab using animated playback experiments,
genotyping embryos to infer mate genotypes and modeling mating patterns with
computer simulations. Together these
areas can show how females are mating in the wild, how closely this resembles
their actual preferences as determined in the lab and the contribution of their
mating preferences to population structure in hybrid populations.
Soon genotyping of
hundreds of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) derived from express sequence
tags (EST) will enable interval mapping to indicate chromosomal areas
associated with female choice. From this
I can determine how genetic variation underlying female choice contributes to
variation in mating patterns and population structure. Multilocus SNP genotyping can also allow us
to construct genetic clines to determine what loci are under selection and how
patterns of selection vary among hybrid zones.
I am also currently an NSF
IGERT trainee through the interdisciplinary Applied Biodiversity Science program at Texas
A&M, and associated with the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology group at
A&M.