Amphibians around the world have been experiencing massive population losses and extinctions. Although these declines have been precipitated by a number of factors, the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is receiving increasing attention as a devastating threat, infecting hundreds of amphibian species worldwide. Among the species affected by B. dendrobatidis is the mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A window into disease impacts on wild species such as R. muscosa is afforded by the recent completion of whole-genome sequencing for the model frog species, Xenopus tropicalis. Some of my specific research foci in this system include:

Genetics of host/pathogen interactions: My frog/chytrid work primarily focuses on understanding, from a whole-genome perspective, the genetic changes associated with the fungal infection of frog hosts. By evaluating global gene expression profiles of experimental frog pairs (e.g., infected vs. uninfected, susceptible vs. resistant) I am identifying genes that are involved in immune response for frogs exposed to B. dendrobatidis, and I am evaluating frog response to fungal infection under different environmental conditions. Currently I am conducting whole genome expression experiments with X. tropicalis, but these investigations will be applied in the coming years to R. muscosa and other frog species experiencing chytrid related declines.

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The biology of bizarre critters: I am involved using functional genomics and comparative genomics techniques to mine the whole-genome ofB. dendrobatidis (which we recently finished sequencing). We hope that the resulting sequence data will provide a wealth of information about the biology of this basal group of fungi. My research will contribute to this aim directly in several ways, for example, by characterizing whole genome expression profiles at different life stages and under different conditions and by providing markers for chytrid population genetic studies.

Applying genomics to ecologically important questions: Finally, one of my research aims is to integrate functional genomics and organismal biology by applying genomic data to questions in nature. I have an ongoing interest in developing large-scale genetic resources for non-model species and diverse collaborations to better tackle evolutionary questions in complex natural systems.