Title: Leveraging phylogenetic signals from convergent evolution to uncover the genetic basis of poor eyesight.
Abstract:
Eyes are an ancient structure that can have a large impact on survival: They are important for finding resources like food, evading predators, choosing a mate, and they play a role in regulating the circadian rhythm. Because of their significance, alterations in genes expressed in the eye tend to be deleterious. Interestingly, there are several mammals that have independently evolved vestigial eyes, such as bats, moles, and the Indus River dolphin. These animals reside in dark environments, which likely reduces the selective pressure to maintain vision, permitting changes in the underlying sequences.
I aim to uncover the genes and regulatory regions that are contributing to eyesight. Specifically, I will be taking a comparative genomics approach to examine coding and noncoding regions that show accelerated evolutionary rates in poor sighted animals. I intend to find exciting candidate sequences computationally, which will then be validated experimentally in zebrafish, a commonly used model for eye research. The knowledge from this combined approach will give us a fuller understanding of the coding and noncoding regions that are essential for eye development, which may also contribute to heritable human eye disease.
Clark Lab
Friday, August 31st, 2024
12:00PM
Langley A219B