Overview: Pacific newts are some of the most toxic terrestrial organisms because of their ability to utilize the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX) as a defense. TTX binds to voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav proteins), which causes paralysis, respiratory failure, and death. Interestingly, some species of garter snakes have evolved genetic mutations in their gene that encodes for these proteins. These mutations allow the snakes to prey upon Pacific newts with little to no effect, and is the basis of the classic coevolutionary arms-race between newts and garter snakes. My dissertation work at UNR focuses on understanding how selective pressures from the predatory and defensive traits between garter snakes and newts influences genetic and phenotypic structuring of populations.
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Influence of antagonistic coevolution between the Sierra garter snake (Thamnophis couchii) and Sierra newt (Taricha sierrae) on adaptive variation.
I will utilize a population genomic approach to understand the spatial scale at which gene flow might be reduced among populations, and thus, allow for independent local adaptation among populations of the Sierra garter snake in response to variation in tetrodotoxin (TTX) bearing Pacific newts (Taricha).
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A patchwork of resistance: allelic variation underlies adaptive phenotypes across a selection mosaic in Thamnophis atratus.
Understanding the genetic architecture of phenotypic variation and how that architecture is distributed across a heterogenetic landscape are two key hallmarks in coevolutionary studies. By characterizing genetic structure and allelic variation can give new insight into how phenotypic variation is shaped across a selection mosaic.
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Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of the western terrestrial garter snake (Thamnophis elegans) reveal distinct evolutionary lineages and biogeographic patterns across western North America
We used genotyping-by-sequencing to estimate phylogenetic relationships and characterize fine-scale population genetic structure across the three widespread subspecies of T. elegans to better understand how genetic structure has been shaped across multiple spatial scales.
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