DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary History of Symbiotic Bacteria in Bird Lice

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Within the feather louse genus Columbicola there are at least two groups of endosymbiotic bacteria. Although these bacteria are transmitted maternally and must be inside of a louse to remain alive, their evolutionary tree does not mirror that of the lice they live in. This incongruity might be explained by the replacement of one group of symbionts with another group in some of the species of Columbicola. Genome sequences will be produced for the symbionts of two lice species, C. columbae and C. baculoides. These data will be used to compare the gene inventory, genome organization and genome size of the two symbionts. If the ancestral symbiont has been replaced in some species of Columbicola, then we expect that these genomic characteristics will be very different for each of the symbiont groups. The genome sequences produced from this study will be the first for symbionts of insects that feed on keratin (feathers or hair). This study will improve our knowledge of symbiotic relationships, in particular the possible replacement and subsequent evolution of bacterial symbionts. In addition, this work will provide training in the fields of bioinformatics and genomics for a female PhD student and several undergraduates. Using the cosmopolitan Rock Pigeon as a model for the Columbicola-symbiont system, K-12 students will be educated about symbiosis and the importance of genetics and evolution. All sequence data produced from this work will be submitted to the NCBI Genbank public database.