Priscilla Erickson's Lab
The Erickson lab studies how evolutionary changes in the genome produce biodiversity and influence adaptation to new environments. We currently work with an invasive species of fruit fly (The African Fig Fly, Zaprionus indianus) as a model to study how invasive species adapt to new environments. Z. indianus arrived in Florida in 2005 and rapidly spread northward. However, it currently cannot survive our winters in Virginia, so the population recolonizes from more southern locales each year and then persists for 5-10 generations in Virginia. This pattern allows us to study naturally repeated experiments of the same species invading the same environment, year after year. We regularly sample two local fruit orchards to monitor the presence of this species over time. We are using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics to study changes in the genome as Z. indianus adapts to new habitats each year. We can use these data to test whether evolution is predictable from year to year and to identify genes that are important for adaptation. We also rear flies collected from different orchards and different points in the invasion to see how they vary in traits that may affect their survival in natural environments, such as morphology and stress tolerance. Differences between populations may suggest local adaptation to different environments.
We are also interested in the evolution of novel traits and are using Z. indianus as a model due to its unique external patterning. Unlike other fruit flies, Z. indianus have striking white and black “racing stripes” along their thorax. We are currently developing CRISRP-Cas9 genome editing tools to study the functions of genes that may be involved in the development of stripes, with the long-term goal of understanding how and why these stripes evolved.
Current Projects
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Illumina sequencing and population genomic analysis of locally collected flies
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Physiological assays of stress tolerance in Z. indianus
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Ecology of natural Z. indianus populations