Meeting Abstract

74.1  Friday, Jan. 7   Genetic and expression changes in lactate dehydrogenase as potential mechanisms for promoting local adaptation in the Daphnia pulex species complex (Cladocera, Anomopoda) DEMIRI, Bora*; CRISTESCU, Melania; CREASE, Teresa; University of Windsor; University of Windsor; University of Guelph demiri@uwindsor.ca

Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation is a central task for evolutionary biology. Previous studies indicate that the Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene plays an important role in local adaptations to ecologically different habitats in a number of species. This study investigate how LDH contributes to local adaptations of pond Daphnia pulex and lake Daphnia pulicaria ,two sister species. This study uses controlled experiments to test whether there is correlation between the expression of LDH and environmental conditions such as different temperature and oxygen levels that usually characterize the pond and lake habitats. Three groupings of Daphnia, lake Daphnia, pond Daphnia and pond dwelling hybrid Daphnia, are exposed to a range of environmental conditions that are characterized by high and low temperatures and dissolved oxygen concentrations. Quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) is used to quantify LDH gene expression. This study will expand our understanding of how differences in gene expression levels of metabolic genes contributes to local adaptation in divergent natural populations.