Research in the Whiteman Lab
Research in our laboratory focuses on understanding how species interactions drive adaptation. Two research themes fall under this larger umbrella:
You can read about Noah's overview of research he's been involved with and his favorite research discoveries that the lab has made here.
A major theme in our lab is the study and development of new model systems for studying plant-herbivore interactions. The largest one involves the drosophilid fly Scaptomyza flava and the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which it attacks in nature (as well as associated phyllosphere and gut-associated bacteria). We also conduct genetic engineering in the 'fruit' or vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the function of loci involved in adaption to toxic plants. This research is supported by an R35 Outstanding Investigator Award (Maximizing Investigator's Research Award for Established Investigators) from the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (R35GM119816) of the National Institutes of Health. We are grateful for this support. Julianne Peláez, Hiro Suzuki and Jess Aguilar all work on various aspects of this system, including how these flies have evolved to detect and cope with host plant defense chemicals like glucosinolates and their breakdown products (isothiocyanates and indoles). Flowing from this system is a project led by Kirsten Verster and Rebecca Tarnopol that focuses on the role of horizontally transferred genes from phages to diverse drosophilid flies, which encode toxins used to resist parasitoids. Diler Haji is pushing a project on co-evolution between bunchflower plants that produce toxic steroidal alkaloids and herbivorous insects. Dr. Moe Bakhtiari is developing California wild radish as a model for understanding tradeoffs between herbivore resistance and pollinator attraction. Dr. Sam Chaturvedi is leading a co-evolutionary genomics project for California pipevine swallowtail and pipevine. Finally, research associate Dr. Carolina Reisenman and research specialist Dr. Ben Goldman-Huertas are working on many different projects focused on the intersection between plant toxins and drosophilid flies, including the develop of behavioral assay and transgenic tools for Scaptomyza.
A smaller, but significant NSF-funded lab project involves the broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). We use that system to identify the genomic architecture underlying variation in foraging traits, from color vision to bill morphology, and to understand the evolutionary history of those loci. It fits right in with the first major research theme above. This is a collaborative project with Nicolas Alexandre, Professor Mary (Cassie) Stoddard at Princeton University and Professor David Inouye at the RMBL.
We welcome contact from prospective collaborators, lab members and others. Professor Whiteman is a Principal Investigator in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute the Center for Computational Biology and can advise Ph.D. and undergraduate students in these programs, in addition to students in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology. Professor Whiteman is also an affiliated faculty member of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology the Essig Museum of Entomology the University and Jepson Herbaria. To learn more, please visit individual lab member pages or email Professor Whiteman.
I encourage you to visit the individual pages of researchers associated with my laboratory in order to understand the breadth and depth of our interests and to meet these fabulous people virtually at least.
Thanks for reading!
Noah
- The first theme focuses on understanding how species interactions can act to maintain genetic variation within populations.
- The second theme focuses on understanding how toxins mediate species interactions. Specifically, how toxins evolve, how they are perceived, resisted and even co-opted. Toxins of biological origin can become keystone molecules, supporting the evolution and integration of diverse phenotypic modules in animals. The evolution of toxicity transforms animals from cryptic to conspicuous, nocturnal to diurnal, small to big, fast to slow, solitary to social, local to widespread, neglectful to doting parents and short- to long-lived. But toxicity is not only restricted to gaudy animals. A parallel transformation unfolded as cells of the animal immune system became armed with an arsenal of novel toxins.
You can read about Noah's overview of research he's been involved with and his favorite research discoveries that the lab has made here.
A major theme in our lab is the study and development of new model systems for studying plant-herbivore interactions. The largest one involves the drosophilid fly Scaptomyza flava and the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which it attacks in nature (as well as associated phyllosphere and gut-associated bacteria). We also conduct genetic engineering in the 'fruit' or vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the function of loci involved in adaption to toxic plants. This research is supported by an R35 Outstanding Investigator Award (Maximizing Investigator's Research Award for Established Investigators) from the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (R35GM119816) of the National Institutes of Health. We are grateful for this support. Julianne Peláez, Hiro Suzuki and Jess Aguilar all work on various aspects of this system, including how these flies have evolved to detect and cope with host plant defense chemicals like glucosinolates and their breakdown products (isothiocyanates and indoles). Flowing from this system is a project led by Kirsten Verster and Rebecca Tarnopol that focuses on the role of horizontally transferred genes from phages to diverse drosophilid flies, which encode toxins used to resist parasitoids. Diler Haji is pushing a project on co-evolution between bunchflower plants that produce toxic steroidal alkaloids and herbivorous insects. Dr. Moe Bakhtiari is developing California wild radish as a model for understanding tradeoffs between herbivore resistance and pollinator attraction. Dr. Sam Chaturvedi is leading a co-evolutionary genomics project for California pipevine swallowtail and pipevine. Finally, research associate Dr. Carolina Reisenman and research specialist Dr. Ben Goldman-Huertas are working on many different projects focused on the intersection between plant toxins and drosophilid flies, including the develop of behavioral assay and transgenic tools for Scaptomyza.
A smaller, but significant NSF-funded lab project involves the broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). We use that system to identify the genomic architecture underlying variation in foraging traits, from color vision to bill morphology, and to understand the evolutionary history of those loci. It fits right in with the first major research theme above. This is a collaborative project with Nicolas Alexandre, Professor Mary (Cassie) Stoddard at Princeton University and Professor David Inouye at the RMBL.
We welcome contact from prospective collaborators, lab members and others. Professor Whiteman is a Principal Investigator in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute the Center for Computational Biology and can advise Ph.D. and undergraduate students in these programs, in addition to students in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology. Professor Whiteman is also an affiliated faculty member of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology the Essig Museum of Entomology the University and Jepson Herbaria. To learn more, please visit individual lab member pages or email Professor Whiteman.
I encourage you to visit the individual pages of researchers associated with my laboratory in order to understand the breadth and depth of our interests and to meet these fabulous people virtually at least.
Thanks for reading!
Noah