DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Genome-wide SNP genotyping to identify candidate loci responsible for divergence in temperature performance within a population of thermophilic cyanobacteria

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A central goal of evolutionary biology is understanding how ecological diversity arises and is maintained in natural populations. White Creek, in Yellowstone National Park, is home to a population of the cyanobacterium, Mastigocladus laminosus, which grows along a thermal gradient of 37 to 55ºC. While genetically identical for much of the genome, the population has members that have specialized and adapted to live at different temperature zones along creek. This study takes an innovative approach using genomic data to identify strong candidates for genes responsible for natural variation within the population and that are temperature associated. Genes thus identified can shed light on the type, function, and number of genes involved in thermal adaptation. Fundamental questions regarding how ecological niches develop in populations are: 1) what kind of genes are involved, regulatory or protein encoding? 2) What do the genes encode? and 3) How many genes are involved? This study's unique focus on a natural population facing a well defined environmental gradient, allows a robust analysis of associations between genetic makeup and the environmental variable. Undergraduate researchers in the University of Montana's Introductory Multicultural Summer Undergraduate Research Experience and the HHMI supported Montana Integrative Learning Experience for Students have had and will continue to have opportunities to work in the lab on this study. An educational module on microbiology and evolution will be developed from this study for use by Ecology Project International, which draws high school students from all over the U.S. and Latin America to Yellowstone NP.