Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics at the University of Arizona

Our lab investigates how sexual selection and conflict drives the evolution of postmating prezygotic (PMPZ) reproductive incompatibilities, how the ecology of a species shapes patterns of variation at multiple levels (genes, pathways, transcriptomes, genomes, physiology, behavior and life history), how populations adapt to environmental shifts (natural or human created), how genetic architecture can dictate the evolutionary trajectory of populations, the implication of ecological adaptation in the process of speciation. Our research revolves around these fundamental aspects of evolutionary biology. We work on a group of cactophilic Drosophila that inhabit the deserts of North America. These Drosophila species are an excellent system to study given that they have a unique reproductive biology, their ecology is well understood and the fact that we can perform many genetic, genomic, manipulative and life history experiments given the many genomic and transgenic tools we have built. In addition, we have ongoing projects and grants on the genomics of insect agricultural pests, focusing on the genomics of resistance of Helicoverpa zea (corn earworm) to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins as well as the analysis of genomic variation in Lygus hesperus (western tarnish bug).

A bit more specifically, our lab works on: (i) speciation genetics/genomics and the evolution of post-mating pre-zygotic (PMPZ) reproductive incompatibilities the study of the genetical basis of adaptation; (ii) the study of the genetical basis of adaptation, examining the genomic mechanisms of desiccation, starvation and thermal stress tolerance; (iii) the effects of ecological adaptation in behavioral evolution and its consequence on the evolution of reproductive isolation; (iv) genomics of plasticity and transgenerational effects; (v) population/comparative genomics of cactophilic Drosophila; (vi) examining the effect of different genetic architectures in the evolution; (vii) using new genome editing techniques, CRISPR-Cas9 and phiC31 integrase, to generate transgenics to assess the molecular mechanism of reproductive incompatibilities and ecological adaptation; (viii) assessing the genomic basis of the resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins in H. zea; (ix) sequencing, assembly and annotation of the L. hesperus genome.