Collaborative Research: Evolutionary genomics of rapid adaptation in threespine stickleback

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Biologists are making significant progress in understanding how changes in single genes allow organisms to cope with changing environments. However, it is still unknown how entire genomes - the total genetic information encoded in an organism?s DNA - respond to novel conditions. In particular, when independent populations adapt to similar environments, it is unclear what proportion of genomic changes occur in the same way. Studies of threespine stickleback fish provide an excellent opportunity to address this problem. Repeatedly, the ocean form of stickleback has invaded and become isolated in freshwater habitats, which has resulted in replicated patterns of divergence in traits such as bone size, body coloration and mating behavior. The goal of this research is to analyze patterns of divergence across entire genomes of multiple populations of Alaskan oceanic stickleback that colonized freshwater ponds formed during a massive earthquake in 1964. Using cutting-edge sequencing technology and newly developed techniques for evaluating genome-wide patterns of genetic variation, this project will evaluate the similarity of genomic responses of each population to their new freshwater habitats. This research provides a case study of the genomic changes that occur during the responses of organisms to both natural and human-caused environmental changes. In addition, the results of this work will provide a better understanding of the genomic basis of how organisms respond to climate change, another environmental perturbation that could stimulate rapid evolution. Graduate students and undergraduates including Alaska Natives will be part of the research, and a website provides elementary-school level materials about the project.