BIOL 471--Spring 2009

Paper and poster topics available for sign-up (topics taken in red)
(email requests for a topic beginning first day of class)
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Noonan, J. P. et al. 2008. Sequencing and analysis of Neanderthal genomic DNA. Science 314:1113-1118. [poster topic: Neanderthal DNA]

 
Nielsen, R. et al. 2005. A scan for positively selected genes in the genomes of humans and chimpanzees. PLoS Biology 3(6): e170. [poster topic: genomic comparison of humans and chimps]

 

Gheselli, F. et al. 2007. The Leptynia hispanica species complex (Insecta Phasmida):polyploidy, parthenogenesis, hybridization and more. Mol. Ecol. 16: 4256-4268. [poster topic: speciation by polyploidy in insects]

 

Warren, W. C. et al. 2008. Genome analysis of the platypus reveals unique signatures of evolution. Nature 453: 173-184. [Poster topic: platypus genome]

 

Espinoza, R. E. et al. 2004. Recurrent evolution of herbivory in small, cold-climate lizards: Breaking the ecophysiological rules of reptilian herbivory. PNAS USA 101: 16819-16824. [Poster topic: origin of herbivory in lizards]

 

Blackledge, T. A. and R. G. Gillespie. 2004. Convergent evolution of behavior in an adaptive radiation of Hawaiian web-building spiders. PNAS USA 101: 16228-16233. [Poster topic: evolution of web-building behavior in spiders]

 

Britten, R. J. 2006. Almost all human genes resulted from ancient duplication. PNAS USA 103: 19027-19032. [Poster topic: gene duplication in humans]

 

Byers, J. A. and L. Waits. 2006. Good genes sexual selection in nature. PNAS USA 103: 16343-16345. [Poster topic: good genes hypothesis]

 

Harlin-Cognato, A. et al. 2006. Gene cooption without duplication during the evolution of a male-pregnancy gene in pipefish. PNAS USA 103: 19407-19412. [Poster topic: evolution of male pregnancy in pipefish]

 

Gilbert, M. T. P. et al. 2007. The emergence of HIV/AIDS in the Americas and beyond. PNAS USA 104: 18566-18570. [Poster topic: evolution of HIV]

 

Poulakakis, N. et al. 2008. Historical DNA analysis reveals living descendants of an extinct species of Galápagos tortoise. PNAS USA 105: 15464-15469. [phylogeny of Galápagos tortoises]

 

Zangerl, A. R. and M. R. Berenbaum. 2005. Increase in toxicity of an invasive weed after reassociation with its coevolved herbivore. PNAS USA 102: 15529-15532. [Poster topic: evolution of invasive species]

 

Jordan, L. A. et al. 2008. Cheating honeybee workers produce royal offspring. Proc. Roy. Soc. B 275: 345-351. [Poster topic: cooperation and conflict in social insects]

 

Wiens, J. J. et al. 2006. Rapid diversification, incomplete isolation, and the ‘speciation clock’ in North American salamanders (genus Plethodon): testing the hybrid swarm hypothesis of rapid radiation. Evolution 60: 2585-2603. [Poster topic: rapid speciation in salamanders]

 

Silberman, J. D. et al. 2002. Retortamonad flagellates are closely related to diplomonads- Implications for the history of mitochondrial function in eukaryote evolution. Mol. Biol. Evol. 19: 777-786. [Poster topic: origin of amitochondrial eukaryotes]

 

Salzburger, W. et al. 2005. Out of Tanganyika: Genesis, explosive speciation, key-innovations and phylogeography of the haplochromine cichlid fishes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2005, 5:17. [Poster topic: rapid speciation of cichlids in East Africa]

 

Moyà-Solà, S. et al. 2004. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a New Middle Miocene Great Ape from Spain. Science 306: 1339-1344. [Poster topic: diversity of Miocene apes]

 

Charmantier, A. et al. 2006. Quantitative genetics of age at reproduction in wild swans: Support for antagonistic pleiotropy models of senescence. PNAS USA 103: 6587-6592. [Poster topic: evolution of senescence]

 

Sogin, M. L. et al. 2006. Microbial diversity in the deep sea and the underexplored ‘rare biosphere.’ PNAS USA 103: 12115-12120. [Poster topic: estimating global biodiversity]

 

Favret, C. and D. J. Voegtlin. 2004. Speciation by host-switching in pinyon Cinara (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aphididae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32: 139-151. [Poster topic: speciation by host-switching]

 

Gompert, Z. et al. 2006. Homoploid hybrid speciation in an extreme habitat. Science 314: 1923-1925. [Poster topic: hybrid speciation]

 

Wilde, S. A. et al. 2001. Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago. Nature 409: 175-178. [Poster topic: dating the oldest rocks on the planet]

 

DaCosta, J. M. and J. Klicka. 2008. The Great American Interchange in birds: a phylogenetic perspective with the genus Trogon. Molecular Ecology 17: 1328-1343. [Poster topic: Great American Interchange]

 

Good, J. M. et al. 2008. Ancient hybridization and mitochondrial capture between two species of chipmunks. Molecular Ecology 17: 1313-1327. [Poster topic: hybridization in mammals]

 

Remigio, E. A. and T. F. Duda, Jr. 2008. Evolution of ecological specialization and venom of a predatory marine gastropod. Molecular Ecology 17: 1156-1162. [Poster topic: evolution of ecological specialization]

 

Voje, K. L. et al. 2009. Climatic change as an engine for speciation in flightless Orthoptera species inhabiting African mountains. Molecular Ecology 18: 93-108. [Poster topic: climate change and speciation]

 

Decaestecker, E. et al. 2007. Host–parasite ‘Red Queen’ dynamics archived in pond sediment. Nature 450: 870-874. [Poster topic: Red Queen hypothesis]

 

Pal, C. et al. 2007. Coevolution with viruses drives the evolution of bacterial mutation rates. Nature 450: 1079-1081. [Poster topic: evolution of mutation rates]

 

Thewissen, J. G. M. 2007. Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India. Nature 450: 1190-1194 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: fossil whales]

 

Carbonell, E. 2008. The first hominin of Europe. Nature 452: 465-469 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: first European humans]

 

Harper, G. R. and D. W. Pfennig. 2008. Selection overrides gene flow to break down maladaptive mimicry. Nature 451: 1103-1106 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: evolution of mimicry]

 

Santorelli, L. A. et al. 2008. Facultative cheater mutants reveal the genetic complexity of cooperation in social amoebae. Nature 451: 1107-1110 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: cooperation and conflict in social amoebae]

 

Simmons, N. B. et al. 2008. Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation. Nature 451: 818-821 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: evolution of flight in bats]

 

Martin, F. et al. 2008. The genome of Laccaria bicolor provides insights into mycorrhizal symbiosis. Nature 452: 88-92 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: evolution of mycorrhizal symbioses]

 

Gaucher, E. A. et al. 2008. Palaeotemperature trend for Precambrian life inferred from resurrected proteins. Nature 451: 704-707 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: early microbial cellular life]

 

Warner, D. A. and R. Shine. 2008. The adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in a reptile. Nature 451: 566-568 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination]

 

Idnurm, A. et al. 2008. Identification of the sex genes in an early diverged fungus. Nature 451: 193-196 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: mating systems in fungi]

 

Sanchez-Puerta, M. V. et al. 2007. Sorting wheat from chaff in multi-gene analyses of chlorophyll c-containing plastids. Molecular Phylogeneticts and Evolution 44: 885-897. [Poster topic: evolution of chlorophyll c plastids]

 

Mulkidjanian, A. Y. et al. 2006. The cyanobacterial genome core and the origin of photosynthesis. PNAS USA 103: 13126-13131. [Poster topic: origin of photosynthesis]

 

Cafaro, M. J. 2005. Eccrinales (Trichomycetes) are not fungi, but a clade of protists at the early divergence of animals and fungi. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 21-34. [Poster topic: common ancestry of fungi and animals]

 

Qiua, Y.-L. et al. 2006. The deepest divergences in land plants inferred from phylogenomic evidence. PNAS USA 103:15511-15516. [Poster topic: origin of land plants]

 

Hofmann, H. J. et al. 2008. Ediacaran biota on Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. Journal of Paleontology 82: 1-36. [Poster topic: Ediacaran fauna]

 

Angielczyk, K. D. and M. L. Walsh. 2008. Patterns in the evolution of nares size and secondary palate length in anomodont therapsids (Synapsida): implications for hypoxia as a cause of end-Permian tetrapod extinctions. Journal of Paleontology 82: 528-542. [Poster topic: End-Permian mass extinctions]

 

Skinner, A. et al. 2008. Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards. BMC Evol. Biol. 8: 310. [Poster topic: limb loss in lizards and snakes]

 

Hasan, A. U. et al. 2008. Genetic diversity in two sibling species of the Anopheles punctulatus group of mosquitoes on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. BMC Evol. Biol. 8: 318. [Poster topic: sibling species]

 

Carmona, F. D. et al. 2008. The molecular basis of defective lens development in the Iberian mole. BMC Biology 6: 44. [Poster topic: pax6 genes and eye development]

 

Lalueza-Fox, C. et al. 2008. Genetic characterization of the ABO blood group in Neandertals. BMC Evol. Biol. 8: 342. [Poster topic: evolution of human ABO blood groups]

 

Anderson, J. S. et al. 2008. A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders. Nature 453 :515-518. [Poster topic: common ancestor of modern amphibians]

 

Friedman, M. 2008. The evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry. Nature 454: 209-212. [Poster topic: how did flatfish get flat?]

 

Rabosky, D. L. and J. Sorhannus. 2009. Diversity dynamics of marine planktonic diatoms across the Cenozoic. Nature 457: 183-186 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: marine microfossil evidence for changes in diversity]

 

Thorogood, C. J. et al. 2008. Host-driven divergence in the parasitic plant Orobanche minor Sm. (Orobanchaceae). Mol. Ecol. 17: 4289-4303. [Poster topic: host-switching speciation in parasitic angiosperms]

 

Trigo, T. C. et al. 2008. Inter-species hybridization among Neotropical cats of the genus Leopardus, and evidence for an introgressive hybrid zone between L. geoffroyi and L. tigrinus in southern Brazil. Mol. Ecol. 17: 4317-4333. [Poster topic: hybridization between mammal species]

 

Marín, I. 2008. Ancient Origin of the Parkinson Disease Gene LRRK2. Mol. Evol. 67: 41-50. [Poster topic: origin of human genetic diseases]

 

Adler, D. S. et al. 2008. Dating the demise: Neandertal extinction and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus. J. Human Evol. 55: 817-833. [Poster topic: Neanderthal extinction in Europe]

 

Halverson, M. S. and D. A. Bolnick. 2008. An ancient DNA test of a founder effect in Native American ABO blood group frequencies. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 137: 342-347. [Poster topic: population genetics of Native American populations]

 

Carrier, D. R. 2007. The short legs of great apes: evidence for aggressive behavior in Australopiths. Evolution 61: 596-605. [Poster topic: comparative behaviors of Hominins and Australopithecines]

 

Lohmueller, K. E. et al. 2008. Proportionally more deleterious genetic variation in European than in African populations. Nature 451: 994-997 (plus supplement). [Poster topic: distribution of deleterious genetic traits in human populations]

 

Rumphoa, M. E. et al. 2008. Horizontal gene transfer of the algal nuclear gene psbO to the photosynthetic sea slug Elysia chlorotica. PNAS USA 105: 17867–17871. [Poster topic: symbiosis and horizontal gene transfer]

 

Eckhart, L. 2008. Identification of reptilian genes encoding hair keratin-like proteins suggests a new scenario for the evolutionary origin of hair. PNAS USA 105: 18419–18423. [Poster topic: origin of mammals]

 

Hershberg, R. 2008. High functional diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis driven by genetic drift and human demography. PLoS Biol 6: 311. [Poster topic: evolution in Mycobacterium tuberculosis]

 

Brazeau, M. D. 2009. The braincase and jaws of a Devonian ‘acanthodian’ and modern gnathostome origins. Nature 457: 305-308. [Poster topic: early jawed vertebrates]

 

Christiansen, P. and J. H. Mazák. 2009. A primitive Late Pliocene cheetah, and evolution of the cheetah lineage. PNAS USA 106: 512-515. [Poster topic: evolution and conservation of the cheetah lineage]

 

Gentile, G. 2009. An overlooked pink species of land iguana in the Galápagos. PNAS USA 106: 407-511. [Poster topic: Galápagos iguanas]


Xu, X. et al. 2009. A new feather type in a nonavian theropod and the early evolution of  feathers. PNAS USA 106: 832-834. [Poster topic: feathered dinosaurs]