DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Roles of host hybridization and symbiont admixture in adaptation and diversification

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The red flour beetle is a widespread pest. Understanding how it can adapt to infest new products is economically important and addresses general questions about adaptation and diversification. In initial dissertation work, the Co-PI found that flour beetles adapt to soy flour within eleven generations and hybridization between beetle populations increases adaptation. While increased adaptation in hybrids can be caused by recombination of parental genomes (the standard explanation), increased performance might also be caused by recombination of symbiotic bacteria from parental populations. This proposition will be tested by comparing symbiotic bacteria of soy-adapted and wheat-adapted beetles. Bacteria will be identified by high-throughput DNA technology. Antibiotics will be used to remove symbiotic bacteria to determine whether bacteria are responsible for differences in performance. This project will produce data relevant to agriculture, conservation, and education. Results will be invaluable to policy makers in the growing organic agriculture industry when making decisions about storage of imported food products when fumigation is not an option. Similarly, results will be of service to conservation organizations interested in preventing invasions by exotic species or facilitating reintroduction of endangered species to altered environments. The PI and Co-PI mentor undergraduate students by involving them in data collection and analysis, and this funding will support development of a beetle module in the VolsTeach program at the University of Tennessee.