University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Molecular mechanisms underlying avian metabolic variation: a genomic approach

Stager, Maria

Content Files
Appendix_B.xls
Appendix_E.xls
Maria_Stager.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/50552

Description

Title
Molecular mechanisms underlying avian metabolic variation: a genomic approach
Author(s)
Stager, Maria
Issue Date
2014-09-16
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Cheviron, Zachary A.
Department of Study
School of Integrative Biology
Discipline
Biology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2014-09-16T17:23:47Z
Keyword(s)
  • metabolic gene expression
  • coding mutation
  • Dark-eyed Junco
  • Tachycineta
  • pace of life
Abstract
Physiological adaptive acclimatization allows an organism to balance the competing demands of its life cycle and environment. This thesis seeks to further our understanding of the processes underlying physiological acclimation by characterizing two molecular mechanisms that enable organisms to mount physiological responses to changing environmental conditions. Comprised of two investigations, it focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying variation in avian aerobic performance. In the first, I explore regulatory changes that act on relatively short time periods, enabling organisms to respond to rapid environmental changes within an individual’s lifetime. I show that thermogenic flexibility manifested from simultaneous changes in the expression of genes within hierarchical regulatory networks in response to temperature in the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis). This transcriptomic variation resulted in rapid physiological modifications within individuals. In the second, I instead characterize coding mutations that occur on the timescale of generations. I show that differences in the mitochondrial sequences of the genes encoding the machinery of cellular metabolism could result in canalized differences in whole-organism aerobic performance among Tachycineta swallow species. Sites of positive selection were concentrated in species with ‘slow’ life histories that may be associated with low metabolic rates. Together these investigations provide a concise survey of the molecular tools birds are equipped with to metabolically respond and adapt to environmental variation.
Graduation Semester
2014-08
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50552
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2014 Maria Stager. Portions of this thesis copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V.

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