Enhancement for Research and Teaching Capabilities in Ecological, Environmental and Evolutionary Biology

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This award will support research at the Laboratory of Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics in the Department of Biology at New Mexico State University. A number of investigators will make use of the DNA sequencer including: 1) Dr. Michele Nishiguchi (PI), who studies the evolution and speciation of symbionts in a squid-luminous bacterium model system and is interested in the evolution of infection mechanisms in related pathogenic bacteria of the genus Vibrio, which are responsible for the radiation and spread of infectious disease. 2) Dr. Peter Houde (co-PI), whose research program focuses on the systematics of birds, with an emphasis in the molecular systematics of the avian order Gruiformes, an ill-defined group within avian phylogenetics. 3) Dr. Daniel Howard (co-PI), whose group is interested in species formation, the process responsible for the diversity of life on earth using a model system of closely related ground crickets. 4) Dr. Brook Milligan (co-PI), whose research interests include developing statistical methods to disentangle genetic and environmental factors affecting quantitative traits thereby identifying the genetic architecture of important medical, physiological, or ecological traits of natural populations. 5) Dr. Kevin Oshima (co-PI), whose research focuses primarily on characterizing and examining environmental factors that influence the diversity, ecology and evolution of fish rhabdoviruses. 6) Dr. Geoffrey Smith (co-PI), whose primarily interests include investigating the relationships in the microbial community between metabolic function and phylogenetic structure of biodegradative microorganisms as they respond to chlorinated pollutant exposure. This award will be used to purchase an Applied Biosystems (ABI) 377XL automated sequencer. In addition to sequencing, this machine can also run microsatellite gels (used in population genetics for identifying specific DNA fragments from individual specimens), as well as AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) techniques used in genome mapping in areas such as agricultural and evolutionary biology. The ABI system does not require any radioactive labeling, enabling a radiation-free environment in the laboratory. The faculty of the Laboratory of Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics have major interests in the evolution and radiation of organisms with respect to environmental and ecological influences. The ABI 377XL will contribute to the research and teaching of numerous graduate and undergraduate students who are pursuing careers in those fields.