Project description:Purpose: Identify differentially expressed genes between 5 pea aphid morphs Methods: Collected whole bodies of 30 adult aphids of each of the five pea morphs and three clones (total of 15 samples)
Project description:Developmental mechanisms play an important role in determining the costs, limits, and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity. One issue central to these claims is the metaphor of developmental “decoupling,” where alternate morphs result from evolutionarily independent developmental pathways. We test this assumption through a microarray study that explores differences in gene expression between alternate morphs relative to differences between sexes, a classic example of developmental decoupling. We then examine whether morph-biased genes are less conserved, relative to morph-shared genes, as predicted if developmental decoupling relaxes pleiotropic constraints on divergence. We focus on the developing horns and brains of two species of horned beetles with spectacular sexual- and morph-dimorphism in the expression of horns and fighting behavior. We find that patterns of gene expression were as divergent between morphs as they were between sexes. However, overall patterns of gene expression were also highly correlated across morphs and sexes. Morph-biased genes were more evolutionarily divergent, suggesting a role of relaxed pleiotropic constraints or relaxed selection. Together these results suggest that alternate morphs are somewhat developmentally decoupled, and that this decoupling has significant evolutionary consequences. However, alternative morphs may not be as developmentally decoupled as sometimes assumed and such hypotheses of development should be revisited and refined.
Project description:Purpose: Identify differentially expressed genes between 5 pea aphid morphs Methods: Collected whole bodies of 30 adult aphids of each of the five pea morphs and three clones (total of 15 samples) 5 pea aphid morphs * 3 genotypes = 15 samples
Project description:This series represents the 16 arrays that were used to identify expression differences between the alternative morphs of Spadefoot toads (Spea bombifrons). We used Affymetrix GeneChip Xenopus tropicalis genome arrays, 8 biological replicates for two ecotypes (morphs).
Project description:Our ChipSeq analysis show that while FrzCD does not bind DNA specific regions, ParB binds parS consistent with what as been previously shown. The FrzCD chemoreceptor from the gliding bacterium Myxococcus xanthus forms cytoplasmic clusters that occupy a large central region of the cell body also occupied by the nucleoid. FrzCD directly binds to the nucleoid and the FrzCD binding to the DNA leads to the formation of chemosensory complexes. This supra-molecular organization is required for cooperative interactions between clustered receptors, in turn important for the modulation of bacterial social behaviors.
Project description:Reptiles exhibit a broad variety of adaptive colours and colours patterns but little is known of the mechanisms responsible for these traits. We focus here on the Hypomelanistic traits of 1 corn snake color morph and 3 leopard gecko color morphs. We use mapping-by-sequencing and and differential expression analysis to identify the causative mutation and identify the genes involved in the phenotypes of these color morphs.
Project description:Reptiles exhibit a broad variety of adaptive colours and colours patterns but little is known of the mechanisms responsible for these traits. We focus here on the Hypomelanistic traits of 1 corn snake color morph and 3 leopard gecko color morphs. We use mapping-by-sequencing and and differential expression analysis to identify the causative mutation and identify the genes involved in the phenotypes of these color morphs.
Project description:All but the most basal Lepidopteran species produce two sperm morphs. Only one of these morphs is capable of completing karyogamy and producing offspring, this morph contains the correct genetic complement and is termed eupyrene sperm. Apyrene sperm, on the other hand, is completely devoid of nuclear DNA and fertilisation incompetent. Despite the fact apyrene sperm is believed to be functional, the function of this sperm type is largely unknown. Here we apply tandem mass spectrometry based proteomics to the two sperm types independently in the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the carolina sphinx moth (Manduca sexta). Comparative analysis between sperm morphs and species shows a reduced complexity and greater divergence in apyrene sperm relative to eupyrene consistent across the two species.