Development, Sex Chromosomes, and Speciation

Understanding the origin of species remains a central goal of evolutionary biology (and our lab!). Hybrids provide powerful models to understand how functional divergence between genomes contributes to the process of speciation. We currently have projects in various mammal species focusing on 1) sex chromosome evolution between species, 2) the contribution of the sex chromosomes to reproductive isolation,  3) the role that disrupted gene regulation plays in the hybrid breakdown of spermatogenesis, and 4) the contribution of genomic imprinting to the disruption of embryonic growth pathways in hybrids. This work relies heavily on various functional genomic approaches (RNA-seq, scRNA-seq, ATAC-seq, WG BS-seq, etc) combined with genetic mapping using laboratory crosses.

Adaptation to Changing Environments

Many species experience variable environments that impose strong selection for locally adapted traits, often resulting in the maintenance of adaptive variation. Local adaptation produces some of the most striking examples of phenotypic diversity, yet the evolution of locally adapted traits remains poorly understood.  We are actively pursuing research to understand 1) the evolution of seasonal camouflage and 2) genomic responses to environmental variation at different spatial and temporal scales in mammals.

We are using population and functional genomic approaches to facilitate genome-wide studies of genetic variation in natural population samples. A central focus of this work is to tailor next-generation sequencing methods (whole genome sequencing, exome capture, RNA-seq, RAD-seq) to non-model systems, including the use of DNA samples derived from historic museum collections to facilitate temporal contrasts between populations and genotype-phenotype associations. 

Hybridization and Ecological Speciation

Synergistic to our work on hybrid inviability and sterility, we have several research projects that use population genomic approaches to understand the contribution of hybridization to standing variation within species and the genomic architecture of reproductive isolation. This includes ongoing research in the Good lab on mice, rats, chipmunks, and hares.