Project description:We investigated seminal fluid (SF) diversification in a recently diverged passerine species pair (Passer domesticus and P. hispaniolensis) using a combination of proteomic and comparative evolutionary genomic approaches. Specifically, using tandem MS/MS semi-quantitative proteomic methods we identified and compared the SF proteome of two species of Passer sparrows - the house and Spanish sparrow. This analysis revealed consistencies with known aspects of SF protein biology and function in other taxa, including the presence of a diversity of immune and antimicrobial proteins
Project description:Here, we identify socially sensitive yolk hormones and explore their relationship with transcript-wide gene expression patterns in extra-embryonic tissues during early embryonic development in male and female house sparrows (Passer domesticus). To enable the latter, we additionally characterized how yolk hormones change across development to identify the period during which maternally derived hormones are present. We exposed captive-breeding house sparrows to simulated territorial intrusions throughout the yolking period and collected eggs to measure >30 yolk hormones using LC-MS-MS. We additionally collected unmanipulated eggs from the aviary and the wild and incubated them to one of three timepoints: embryonic day 0 (ED0), ED3, or ED5. We characterized how yolk hormones changed across development and then explored relationships between transcript-wide gene expression levels in ED3 extra-embryonic tissues and levels of yolk hormones that are responsive to social stimuli.