Current Research
Introduction
For further information about specific projects currently in progress, click on the relevant links to the left:
Follow these links for a list of Publications and Research Grants.
The genetics & genomics of parasitism
Parasitism is a common lifestyle, especially among the nematodes. The nematodes have evolved parasitism (from free-living ancestors) five times in their evolutionary history. This strand of work seeks to understand the molecular basis of parasitism in nematodes.
We use the natural nematode parasite of rats, Strongyloides ratti. Its life-cycle has an almost unique feature, namely the existence of an adult parasitic female form and a genetically identical adult free-living form. We are, therefore, comparing these two forms, both in the genes they express and in the proteins they posses. Genes / gene products present in the parasitic form (but absent from the free-living form) are, putatively, those that allow this species to be a successful parasite. This work is exploiting the genome sequence of S. ratti (produced by Matt Berriman and colleagues at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute).
The immunology of wild animals
While a very great deal is known about the immune responses that laboratory animals make, the responses of wild animals are very poorly understood. The very different lives of wild animals - competing for food and mates, and being exposed to a range of infections - will have profound effects on their immune responses. While many factors can affect immune responses (sex, genetics, nutritional status, age, infection status etc.) the relative roles of these (and other) factors for wild animals is not known. For wild animals we therefore know what may affect their immune responses, but not what actually does.
We have assayed in-depth the immune responses of wild mice (Mus musculus) and found that they differed substantially from each other (and differed markedly from laboratory mice). We are now using in-depth, validated assays of immune responses together with measures of key likely controlling factors, to explain which factors are responsible for the observed immune responses. This study will therefore for the first time define what controls the immune responses of a wild animal. It is key that we understand this to better understand the processes of infection and disease and their dynamics in wild populations.
Phenotypic plasticity
Dauer larva formation in C. elegans is an example of phenotypic plasticity, i.e. where one genotype can produce different phenotypes. By comparing different C. elegans strains we have found that they differ in how their dauer larva phenotype changes, for the same change in the environment. The life-cycle of S. ratti is also phenotypically plastic, in its environment-dependent choice between different developmental routes.
For C. elegans dauer larva plasticity we are interested in understanding (i) why different phenoptypically plastic responses exist and (ii) their molecular and genetic basis. We are tackling this by seeing how suites of life-history traits differ between C. elegans strains as the environment changes, and by quantitative trait mapping and genomic-based approaches.