Eric Jay Earley

Graduate Student
BS, University of Pittsburgh '06
Began Fall 2008

While we know a bit about adaptive pigmentation, we don't know much about the genetics underlying complex ecological adaptations. For example, what genes allow the Hummingbird Hawk-moth to hover in mid-air like a hummingbird? How many genes are required for a Bowerbird to construct elaborate courtship arenas? How many genes does a fruit fly need to locate their favorite food?
I'm interested in two questions: 1) what genes contribute to complex adaptations? and 2) how did these adaptations evolve in the first place? I can study these questions using Drosophila sechellia and the 13 sequenced genomes of closely related Drosophila species. D. sechellia prefers the smell and taste of the toxic fruit from Morinda citrifolia, which repels and kills other Drosophila. We know what major organic acids contribute to this repulsion and lethality, but we don't know yet how flies detect them. We also don't know yet how D. sechellia resists these toxins. I am working on a number of projects surrounding D. sechellia's genetic inclination to track Morinda smell and taste, as well as their innate resistance to Morinda toxins.

Publications:

• Earley, EJ; Ingland, B; Winkler, J; Tonsor, SJ. (2009) Inflorescences contribute more than rosettes to lifetime carbon gain in Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae). Am J Bot. 96(4):786-92. HERE

• Earley, EJ and B Wolford (2009) Mechanosensation diversity across and within Drosophila species. DIS 92: 119-122.