Welcome!
The Whiteman Laboratory is part of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. We use a vertically-integrated approach to study adaptations involved in the evolution of parasitism and host resistance. Tools we use include those from biochemistry, experimental evolution, genetics and genomics, molecular biology, and neuroscience. We hope to unravel how free-living organisms evolve to become parasitic and how hosts defend themselves against parasites.
We use a model host-parasite system involving a parasitic fly genus nested in the Drosophila lineage (Scaptomyza flava) and the genetic model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a host. These two species interact in nature and both have substantial genomic resources and molecular tools. Adult females of S. flava use their cutting ovipositor that serves as both an egg-laying organ and a trophic organ. The egg hatches into a larva, which then creates a mine in the leaf, where it completes development.
We use a model host-parasite system involving a parasitic fly genus nested in the Drosophila lineage (Scaptomyza flava) and the genetic model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a host. These two species interact in nature and both have substantial genomic resources and molecular tools. Adult females of S. flava use their cutting ovipositor that serves as both an egg-laying organ and a trophic organ. The egg hatches into a larva, which then creates a mine in the leaf, where it completes development.
