Published: Jul 30, 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Connor Murray for a successfull defense of his PhD.
Dr. Murray’s while in the Bergland lab focused on the genome evolution and genetic variation in Daphnia and Drosophila. One of Connor’s major projects was characterizing the extent of shared polymorphisms between different species of Daphnia. In this work, Connor discovered that many shared polymorphisms (mutations that exist in two species) between European and North American species of D. pulex, and that most of these mutations are consistent with convergent evolution. But, interestingly, there is one opsin gene (a blue light opsin) that has shared mutations that show signals of being old, balanced polymorphisms (trans-specific polymorphisms). In Connor’s work, he shows that these trans-specific polymorphisms in the blue light opsin gene affect swimming behavior and fitness in the wild.
Connor also contributed to our work on seasonal evolution in Drosophila by inferring the changes in population size that occur throughout the growing season.
Prior to joining the lab, Connor worked with Dr. Martin Wu and published research focusing on the microbial species problem.
Connor will be joining Prof. Ani Manichaikul’s lab at the Department of Genome Sciences at UVA’s Medical school as a staff scientist in the fall of 2024.
You can read more about Dr. Murray’s work here:
Read more about Daphnia opsin polymorphisms here: bioRxiv
Read more about Drosophila seasonal evolution here: Genetics
Read more about the microbial species problem here: Nature Communications