Evolution of plant-animal interactions
Welcome!
The Whiteman Laboratory is within the Department of Integrative Biology and Center for Computational Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and is affiliated with the Essig Museum of Entomology, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and University and Jepson Herbaria.
Our research follows from Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace, who focused on the evolution of traits shaped by biotic interactions. Such traits may be more straightforward to study because their genomic architectures tend to be simpler and their evolutionary histories more dynamic than those shaped by the abiotic environment.
We use an interdisciplinary approach to study how these traits evolve, that relies on studies of behavior, biochemistry, chemical ecology, computational biology, evo-devo, genetics, genomics, molecular biology (including CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing), and neuroscience.
We mainly focus on understanding (1) how free-living organisms evolve to become parasitic and specialized, (2) how hosts defend themselves against parasites, (3) and how species interactions drive specialization and the maintenance of functional genetic variation within species.
The model systems we use include flies in the Drosophila lineage (Scaptomyza) that attack the genetic model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and other glucosinolate-bearing plants (like wasabi), insects specialized on cardenolide-bearing plants (like foxglove and milkweeds), creosote-feeding insects and even broad-tailed hummingbirds.
Our research follows from Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace, who focused on the evolution of traits shaped by biotic interactions. Such traits may be more straightforward to study because their genomic architectures tend to be simpler and their evolutionary histories more dynamic than those shaped by the abiotic environment.
We use an interdisciplinary approach to study how these traits evolve, that relies on studies of behavior, biochemistry, chemical ecology, computational biology, evo-devo, genetics, genomics, molecular biology (including CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing), and neuroscience.
We mainly focus on understanding (1) how free-living organisms evolve to become parasitic and specialized, (2) how hosts defend themselves against parasites, (3) and how species interactions drive specialization and the maintenance of functional genetic variation within species.
The model systems we use include flies in the Drosophila lineage (Scaptomyza) that attack the genetic model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and other glucosinolate-bearing plants (like wasabi), insects specialized on cardenolide-bearing plants (like foxglove and milkweeds), creosote-feeding insects and even broad-tailed hummingbirds.
Latest news from the Whiteman Laboratory:
We're getting close to submitting our ten-years-in-the-making genome paper on Scaptomyza flava and relatives. Stay tuned!
Kirsten Verster won the Best Poster Prize at the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Meeting in Manchester, UK. Congrats Kirsten!
Kirsten Verster and several other lab members published a paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution on horizontal transfer of a gene encoding a toxin from bacteria to insects (and Scaptomyza of course).
Ph.D. candidates Nicolas Alexandre and Kirsten Verster each received a summer research grant from the Department of Integrative Biology!
3rd-year Ph.D. candidate Nicolas Alexandre was awarded was awarded a Philomathia Foundation Fellowship, a Mentored Research Award from the Berkeley Graduate Division and a Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Fellowship to support his dissertation research on hummingbird genomics. Congrats Nicolas!
2nd-year Ph.D. student Jessica Aguilar was awarded was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2019! Congrats Jess!
First-year Ph.D. student Hiromu Suzuki was awarded a JASSO long-term graduate fellowship from the Government of Japan! Congrats Hiro!
Diler Haji will be joining the lab and our department as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2019! Diler comes from University of Connecticut where he worked for his undergraduate and M.S. with Professor Chris Simon on evolution of cicadas and their symbionts. Diler also was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Congrats Diler!
Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Marianthi Karageorgi won the Godfrey Hewitt Mobility Award to collect flies in Europe for her research! Congrats Marianna!
We're getting close to submitting our ten-years-in-the-making genome paper on Scaptomyza flava and relatives. Stay tuned!
Kirsten Verster won the Best Poster Prize at the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Meeting in Manchester, UK. Congrats Kirsten!
Kirsten Verster and several other lab members published a paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution on horizontal transfer of a gene encoding a toxin from bacteria to insects (and Scaptomyza of course).
Ph.D. candidates Nicolas Alexandre and Kirsten Verster each received a summer research grant from the Department of Integrative Biology!
3rd-year Ph.D. candidate Nicolas Alexandre was awarded was awarded a Philomathia Foundation Fellowship, a Mentored Research Award from the Berkeley Graduate Division and a Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Fellowship to support his dissertation research on hummingbird genomics. Congrats Nicolas!
2nd-year Ph.D. student Jessica Aguilar was awarded was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2019! Congrats Jess!
First-year Ph.D. student Hiromu Suzuki was awarded a JASSO long-term graduate fellowship from the Government of Japan! Congrats Hiro!
Diler Haji will be joining the lab and our department as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2019! Diler comes from University of Connecticut where he worked for his undergraduate and M.S. with Professor Chris Simon on evolution of cicadas and their symbionts. Diler also was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Congrats Diler!
Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Marianthi Karageorgi won the Godfrey Hewitt Mobility Award to collect flies in Europe for her research! Congrats Marianna!