[Seminar] Synergism among genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches to the study of venom composition and evolution by Professor Darin R. Rokyta

[Seminar]

Title: Synergism among genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches to the study of venom composition and evolution

Speaker: Professor. Darin R. Rokyta

Institution: Florida State University

Abstract:

The study of animal venoms represents a unique intersection between biomedical necessity, opportunity to investigate evolutionary mechanisms, and public fascination. Because venomous animals are non-model systems, cutting-edge high-throughput techniques have been slow to permeate the field, and the innate properties of venoms (e.g., gene-family structures) ensure that such applications will always be fraught with new and stimulating challenges, some of which we are just beginning to overcome. I will discuss the latest applications from my lab of state-of-the-art genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic techniques to the characterization of venoms and the processes underlying their evolution, with an emphasis on the efficacy of combining different approaches. My discussion will focus on the use of venom-gland transcriptomes, venom proteomes, and targeted genomic sequencing to characterize patterns intraspecific venom variation and how these patterns relate to neutral genetic patterns of diversification among populations. I will also discuss some of the technical and bioinformatic difficulties in applying these approaches to venoms, and the solutions my research group has devised.

Bio: I am a broadly trained molecular and evolutionary biologist with expertise in computational biology and protein evolution. My primary field of study is the genetics of adaptation, and I use venoms, viruses, and theory to identify patterns and rules of adaptation. I received a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from the University of Idaho in 2006. After remaining at the University of Idaho as a postdoctoral researcher for two years, I joined the faculty in the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University in 2008. For my venom-related research, I study venom composition and evolution in snakes, centipedes, and scorpions to determine how selection on an ecologically critical trait such as venom affects patterns of phenotypic and genetic variation within species and divergence among species.