VW symposium: Abstract

My abstract for the VW Symposium:

Anguillicola crassus is an eel-specific swimbladder nematode, which parasitizes the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica, found throughout East Asia. This species has also colonized a number of novel hosts: since the early 1980s it has spread throughout almost all populations of the European eel Anguilla anguilla, and also the American eel A. rostrata, since the 1990s. Morphological divergence of the European vs. Asian populations of A. crassus has been documented in field studies. Cross infection experiments, comparing the degree of divergence between the two nematode populations harbored in the same host species, suggest a generally decreased virulence of the European population in comparison to the Asian population, as well as differentiation of live history traits. We are currently employing new high throughput sequencing technology and analysis of gene expression data to identify the potential underlying genes for these differences, with the aim to elucidate whether divergence is driven by evolution of gene expression or coding sequence. We are also testing the "adaptationist" hypothesis that the identified genes may be involved in host-parasite interaction. Finally we will test whether these candidate genes also play a role in divergence in introduced populations of A. crassus in American eels.

Promoting Science-Blogging!

Ich werde Ende Februar am "VW Foundation Evolutionary Biology Status Symposium" in Muenster teilnehmen.

Es gibt die Moeglichkeit Diskussionsgruppen (auch ausserhalb streng wissenschaftlicher Themenbereiche) vorzuschlagen, als habe ich eben an die Organisatoren geschrieben:

I have registered for the symposium a few days ago. I just had an idea for a discussion group.

"Science 2.0: Blogging as a new way of science communication"

• A blog as a medium to publish your thoughts and for scientific discussion
  
• Examples of the English speaking science-blogging community
• Future directions, interaction with classical ways of science communication and publishing

All the best,
Emanuel

Mal gespannt wie der Vorschlag ankommt. Das ganze boete natuerlich die Moeglichkeit zu schamloser Eigenwerbung...