{"618643":{"#nid":"618643","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Yuehui Zhao","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDoctor of Philosophy in Biology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Ein the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYuehui Zhao\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Ewill defend his dissertation\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIdentification of the genetic and phenotypic basis of adaptation to new food sources\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFriday,\u0026nbsp;March 15, 2019\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E1:00\u0026nbsp;PM\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEBB 1005 Children\u0026#39;s Healthcare of Atlanta Seminar Room\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E950 Atlantic Drive\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThesis Advisor:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr.\u0026nbsp;Patrick McGrath\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee members:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr.\u0026nbsp;Joe Lachance\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Frank Rosenzweig\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of\u0026nbsp;Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr.\u0026nbsp;Eric Gaucher\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDepartment of Biology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia State University\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr.\u0026nbsp;Levi Morran\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDepartment of Biology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmory University\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESummary\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe ability to obtain energy from natural environments is of fundamental importance to an animal\u0026rsquo;s survival and depends on both finding food and metabolizing it into a useful molecular source of energy. As organisms encounter new environments, feeding strategies and metabolic networks can be out of balance with new potential dietary sources, creating evolutionary pressure for animals to adapt. In my doctoral thesis, I studied two how two laboratory strains of C. elegans, N2 and LSJ2, adapted to new food sources. I will first describe my finding that how the pleiotropic traits of two derived alleles of neural genes npr-1 and glb-5 in N2 regulate fitness effects to adapt to the new food source. Second, I will describe my finding that identification of a beneficial de novo complex genomic rearrangements at rcan-1 gene, an ortholog of human Down Syndrome correlated gene RCAN1\/DSCR1. This complex rearrangement provides animal another strategy to adapt to the new food source. In the last part, I will describe the work to identify the adaptive alleles and their fitness effects under different environments including three different feeding conditions, two different temperatures, and the growth condition with anthelmintic drugs. My doctoral thesis research demonstrates that laboratory evolution can serve as a powerful tool to study the genetic and phenotypic basis that regulate fitness in metazoan.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Identification of the genetic and phenotypic basis of adaptation to new food sources"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2019-03-01 15:43:39","changed_gmt":"2019-03-01 15:43:39","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2019-03-15T14:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2019-03-15T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2019-03-15T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2019-03-15 18:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2019-03-15 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2019-03-15 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}