Weider Lab

We want to share the great news that Matt Wersebe is the recipient of the 2022 Rosemary Knapp Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Research. 

This award, with $500 prize, is for the best published paper by a current Biology graduate student in the previous year.

For the publication – Wersebe, M.J., R.E. Sherman, P.D. Jeyasingh, and L.J. Weider. 2022. The role of recombination and selection in shaping genomic divergence in an incipient ecological species complex. Molecular Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16383.  This publication represents Chapter 2 of Matt’s doctoral dissertation, and it provides the first sex-specific estimates of recombination rates for a cyclical parthenogen.  However, unlike other eukaryotic species, the authors observed male-biased heterochiasmy in Daphnia pulicaria, which may be related to this somewhat unique breeding mode. It also represents one of the first phased genome assemblies for a non-model invertebrate species.  CONGRATULATIONS MATT!

Congratulations are in order for Zac Arnold receiving a 2022 Outstanding Senior Student Award from the OU Department of Biology.  We will miss Zac in the lab, but we wish him well as begins his medical school training at OU-Tulsa in August 2022.

The spring 2022 Weider Lab team gathers to begin the first of a series of salinity tolerance experiments (LC50) using Daphnia pulicaria clones from lakes in the Twin Cities Metro of Minnesota.  Go team!!

A collaboration between our lab and the laboratory of Puni Jeyasingh (Oklahoma State University) has resulted in the publication of a new genome for our model organism, Daphnia pulicaria.   This effort was led by Matt Wersebe in our lab.  For more information and the press release please visit this Link.

The second chapter of Matt Wersebe’s dissertation has been accepted and is currently in press – Wersebe, M.J., R.E. Sherman, P.D. Jeyasingh, and L.J. Weider. 2022. The role of recombination and selection in shaping genomic divergence in an incipient ecological species complex. Molecular Ecology Link.  This paper presents a highly complete chromosome-level and haplotype resolved genome assembly for Daphnia pulicaria, the lake-associated ecotype from the species complex using the latest third-generation sequencing technology and trio-binning. This study represents only the second phased genome assembly for any invertebrate species.  Fantastic job, Matt!  Congratulations again!

Here is a Link to a new paper entitled “The great escape: Daphnia pulicaria from post-Bythotrephes invasion time periods have an enhanced escape ability”, which just appeared in Hydrobiologia.  This constitutes Chapter 2 from Dr. Emily L. Kiehnau’s Ph.D. dissertation.  Congratulations Emily!

 

Congratulations to Asa Candler and Angela Jarjoura for successfully defending their Honors Research Theses during the past two weeks!  The title of Asa’s Honors Thesis was:  “Enlightening discoveries: Clonal differences in phototaxis of Daphnia pulicaria isolated from Tanners Lake, Minnesota”.  The title of Angela’s Honors Thesis was:  “Climating changes: Differences in reproductive phenologies and life-history characteristics between melanized and non-melanized Daphnia pulex genotypes in response to variation in ultraviolet radiation and temperature.”  This is a great accomplishment.  We will miss you in the lab but wish you great success as you pursue your future academic/professional endeavors.  All the best!

The first chapter of Matt Wersebe’s dissertation has appeared (early view) in Limnology & Oceanography Letters.  It is part of a special issue on the Salinization of Freshwater Systems.  Here is a   Link to the paper.  Congratulations again Matt!