Immunogenomics
More information to come soon on my work in the Gale lab at the University of Washington.
White-throated sparrow nestling transcriptomics
White-throated sparrows exist in two morphs, Tan & White, that exhibit strikingly different behavioral phenotypes, controlled by a supergene on the second chromosome. This supergene produces alternative parental care strategies, female-biased vs biparental, that occur in near equal frequencies. In collaboration with Elaina Tuttle at Indiana State University, I have taken a functional genomics approach to investigate the impacts of these alternative parental care strategies on nestlings.
Transcriptional response to West Nile virus infection in birds
West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the most common arboviruses in the world. WNV exists in a mosquito-bird transmission cycle, in which humans act as dead end hosts. Since its introduction to North America in 1999, WNV has devastated bird populations and become a public health concern. While much is known about the mammalian immune response to WNV infection, relatively little is known how birds mount an immune response to WNV. In collaboration with Erik Hofmeister at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center and Marty Martin at the University of South Florida, we have begun to characterize the avian transcriptional response to WNV infection.
© Allison Lansverk
Immunogenetic evolution
Immune genes are among the most variable in the genome and are often under strong natural selection due to their importance in protecting the host from infection. For my M.S., I studied the impacts of domestication and island colonization on shaping major histocompatability complex (MHC) variation in zebra finches. Despite reduced "neutral" diversity in both domestic and insular populations, MHC diversity is maintained, suggesting strong balancing selection to counteract the impacts of genetic drift. Birds are also extremely variable in the composition and organization of their immune genome. With markers in both the innate and adaptive immune system, I am investigating the evolutionary history of these loci.