Genomics axis

In the Forward-In-Time Natural Experimental Study of Selection (FITNESS) project, we will follow evolutionary trajectories of both phenotypes and genotypes in the wild. The work involves extracting DNA from approximately 10000 fish that constituted the first generation of sticklebacks that established in the experimental lakes. Dr. Daniel Jeffries, a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Katie Peichel’s lab, and Lucas Eckert, a PhD student in Prof. Rowan Barrett’s lab, are developing SNP arrays to characterize the genomic variation in the founding populations. These arrays will be used to track changes in genotype frequencies across time in subsequent generations of sticklebacks collected from the experimental lakes.

In addition to tracking how the genome responds to novel environments, we are interested in how the fish change physically over time and whether the changes match the patterns uncovered in the DNA. Lucas Eckert and Dr. Ben Sulser, a post-doctoral researcher in Prof. Katie Peichel's lab, will explore how any morphological changes are associated with genetic changes using the SNP arrays. Ben is studying both the inside and the outside morphology of the fish by using photographs and 3-dimensional CT scanning techniques to make digital models of the anatomy of fish. Additional morphometric analyses are conducted by Lucas using images of the fish. Read more about the morphology work here.

Recombination is a process in which sections of DNA are broken and recombined to produce new combinations of DNA. Dr. Milan Malinsky and his PhD student Marion Talbi are interested in what roles recombination plays in the adaptation of sticklebacks to new environments. Genomic data from sticklebacks from the source population lakes allows assessment of commonalities and differences in recombination landscapes, and comparison with genomic divergence patterns among source populations. The replicated introductions and yearly genomic data collections will allow tracking of ongoing interplay between recombination and signatures of adaptation.