Honors and Awards
- National Institutes of Health, Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows, 2007-2010
- Harvard University Distinction in Teaching Award, 2007
- Most Innovative Research (poster session), Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease Meeting, Pennsylvania State University, 2006
- Island Press Award, Student Competition Oral Presentations, Conservation Genetics session, Society for Conservation Biology, Columbia University, 2004
- NSF Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Grant, 2003
- TWA Environmental Scholarship, 2002 and 2004
- Stone Award in Entomology, Department of Entomology, UM-Columbia, 2000
- Team Captain of the National Championship Linnean Games Team, Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, 2000
Research Interests
Molecular, ecological and evolutionary basis of host-parasite interactions
Parasites comprise a majority of lineages on the planet, dominate food web links and are highly relevant to agriculture, medicine and conservation biology. More generally, antagonistic species interactions are considered to be an important driver of biological diversity. My research program uses the tools of molecular biology, ecology and genomics to understand the evolutionary processes underpinning host-parasite co-diversification, the mechanistic bases of host-parasite interactions and the genomic consequences of host specificity. The hosts I have studied include invertebrates, vertebrates and plants. The parasitic taxa I have studied include arthropod parasites, viruses, malarial parasites, nematodes, trypanosomes, bacteria and most recently, microsporidians. My research relies extensively on molecular markers and functional genetic and genomic approaches, which spans studies of mating system, inbreeding, host-parasite landscape genetics, co-phylogeography, functional genetics and comparative genomics. At one end of the spectrum, I use fine-scale molecular markers to study recent population dynamics of parasites and their hosts in ecologically simplified field settings, in the Galápagos Islands and Rocky Mountains. At the other end of the spectrum, I conduct functional, experimental studies on genes and metabolic pathways involved in host defense and parasite counter-adaptations in ecologically relevant genetic model systems with the goal of identifying mechanisms responsible for host specificity, virulence and pathogenesis in host and parasite.
Two key projects currently underway include:
1. Molecular, ecological and evolutionary basis of host-parasite interactions in a laboratory model
Setting: Laboratory and greenhouse. Emerging from the research above is a project well underway that aims to develop the first genomic and genetic model chewing herbivore of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana and relies on next generation sequencing technology for transcriptome and genome sequencing. This will allow for comparative genomics and functional genetics studies in which host plant, bacterial pathogen and herbivore are genomic and genetic models. One aim is to study how herbivore xenobiotic metabolism genes are induced by specific host plant defense and microbial compounds in Arabidopsis, and I am developing a germline transformation system for this herbivore that will allow functional studies of candidate detoxification and host-finding genes that mediate interactions with host plants and plant pathogens. Another aim is to study the mechanistic basis of host-finding behavior in these mustard specialists. Key questions about the genetic basis and genomic consequences of host plant specificity and shifts to herbivory from non-herbivorous ancestors are also being addressed using this system.
2. Molecular, ecological and evolutionary basis of host-parasite interactions in ecological models
A. Setting: Rocky Mountains, laboratory and greenhouse. A new project aims to complement the development of a genetic and genomic model herbivore by developing a ecologically relevant analogous system. Although Arabidopsis and its herbivores provide an ideal context in which to explore the mechanistic basis of host defense, Arabidopsis is introduced in the New World. Thus, I am studying two close relatives of that model host-parasite system in the Rocky Mountains that have potentially been co-evolving since the last glaciation and are ecologically highly relevant. Both species have been studied previously in an ecological context and because host and parasite are closely related to genetic model organisms, each is likely to be genetically tractable. Co-evolution between host resistance genes and parasite virulence genes is being studied in a landscape context, and this research is informed by molecular studies of the laboratory model. Field research for this project takes place in the Rocky Mountains, including at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and studies are being planned for the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges, where this interaction has also been found in herbarium records dating to the mid 19th-century.
B. Setting: Galápagos Islands and laboratory. An ongoing project from my dissertation research in the Galápagos Islands aims to understand co-transmission of host and parasite genomes over space and time in an ecologically simplified setting. I have focused on the Galápagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) and its parasite community, which has become a model system for understanding host-parasite co-diversification in its early stages. This research strand continues to have significant momentum and potential to provide insight into basic disease ecology and evolution. Because of the inherent ecological simplicity of oceanic island ecosystems, this system has provided an extremely rich framework in which to investigate general principles of host-parasite co-evolution in the context of an extremely interesting host social system (cooperative polyandry). Recently, I have led an effort to develop microsatellites for three parasites of the Galápagos Hawk. Using these fine-scale makers, I am exploring how host social group membership, geography and time influence the microevolutionary dynamics of the three parasites, which differ in their degree of horizontal and vertical transmission. I am measuring gene flow of parasites from parent to offspring and among adults within and between social groups, and determining how allele frequencies, at the level of the host individual in these long-lived birds, change over time as a result of host ecological interactions and microevolutionary dynamics. I am also studying how host and parasite (and their symbiont) alleles are co-transmitted from one generation to the next, which shapes co-evolutionary outcomes in host-parasite systems. In parallel, I am leading a collaborative project that seeks to understand the diversification of endosymbionts of ectoparasites species. Specifically, I am focusing on Wolbachia lineages that may have the potential to switch hosts between ecologically interacting, but unrelated ectoparasite species.
Link to a full description of Noah Whiteman's research and teaching interests:
Selected Publications
1. Whiteman, N.K. (In press) Functional genetics and genomics. In N.S. Sohdi and P.R. Ehrlich, Conservation Biology for All, Oxford University Press.
2. Whiteman, N.K., V.S. Dosanjh, R.L. Palma, J.M. Hull, R.T. Kimball, P. Sánchez, J.H. Sarasola & P.G. Parker (In press) Molecular and morphological divergence in a pair of bird species and their ectoparasites. Journal of Parasitology
3. Peters, M.B., N.K. Whiteman, C. Hagen, P.G. Parker & T.C. Glenn (2009) Eight polymorphic microsatellite markers isolated from the widespread avian louse Colpocephalum turbinatum (Phthiraptera: Amblycera: Menoponidae). Molecular Ecology Resources 9:910-912
4. Peters, M.B., C. Hagen, N.K. Whiteman, P.G. Parker & T.C. Glenn (2009) Characterization of ten microsatellite loci in the avian louse, Degeeriella regalis (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae). Molecular Ecology Resources 9:882-884
5. Peters, M.D., Q-Y. Xiang, D.T. Thomas, J. Stucky & N.K. Whiteman (2009) Genetic analyses of the federally endangered Echinacea laevigata using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP): Inferences in population genetic structure and mating system. Conservation Genetics 10:1-14
6. Whiteman, N.K. & N.E. Pierce (2008) Delicious poison: Genetics of Drosophila host plant preference. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23:473-478
7. Troemel, E.R., M.-A. Félix, N.K. Whiteman, A. Barrière & F.M. Ausubel (2008) Microsporidia are natural intracellular parasites of the nematode C. elegans. PLoS Biology 6: e309
*Also see a Primer by J. Hodgkin and F.A. Partridge in the same issue and a Research Highlights article by A. Jermy in the February 2009 issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology*
8. Whiteman, N.K. & R.W. Sites (2008) Aquatic insects as umbrella species for ecosystem protection in Death Valley National Park. Journal of Insect Conservation 12:499-509
9. Hull, J.M., W. Savage, J.L. Bollmer, R.T. Kimball, P.G. Parker, N.K. Whiteman & H.B. Ernest (2008) On the origin of the Galápagos Hawk: An examination of phenotypic differentiation and mitochondrial paraphyly. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95:779-789
10. Whiteman, N.K. (2008) Between a whale bone and the deep blue sea: The provenance of dwarf males in whale bone-eating tubeworms. Molecular Ecology 17:4395-4397
11. Santiago-Alarcon, D., N.K. Whiteman, P.G. Parker, R.E. Ricklefs & G. Valkiunas (2008) Patterns of parasite abundance and distribution in island populations of Galápagos endemic birds. Journal of Parasitology 94:584-590
12. Whiteman, N.K. (2008) Lousy heirlooms: Lice help illuminate the recent evolutionary history of an Australian bird. Heredity 101:105-106
13. Whiteman, N.K., R.T. Kimball & P.G. Parker (2007) Co-phylogeography and comparative population genetics of the threatened Galápagos Hawk and three ectoparasite species: Ecology shapes population histories within parasite communities. Molecular Ecology 22:4759-4773 [COVER FEATURE]
14. Merkel, J., H. Jones, N.K. Whiteman, N. Gottdenker, H. Vargas, E. K. Travis, R.E. Miller & P.G. Parker (2007) Microfilariae in Galapagos penguins (Spheniscus mendiculus) and Flightless cormorants (Phalacrocorax harrisi): Genetics, morphology and prevalence. Journal of Parasitology 93:495-503
15. Whiteman, N.K., K.D. Matson, J.L. Bollmer & P.G. Parker (2006) Disease ecology in the Galápagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis): Host genetic diversity, parasite load and natural
antibodies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences 273:797-804 [COVER FEATURE]
16. Bollmer, J.L., R.T. Kimball, N.K. Whiteman, J.H. Sarasola & P.G. Parker (2006) Phylogeography of the Galápagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis): A recent arrival to the Galápagos Islands. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39:237-247
17. Whiteman, N.K., P. Sánchez, J. Merkel, H. Klompen & P.G. Parker (2006) Cryptic host specificity of an avian skin mite (Epidermoptidae) vectored by louseflies (Hippoboscidae) associated with two endemic Galápagos bird species. Journal of Parasitology 92:1218-1228
18. Parker, P.G., N.K. Whiteman & E.R. Miller (2006) Conservation medicine on the Galápagos Islands: Partnering behavioral, population and veterinary scientists. Auk 123:625-638
19. Padilla, L., N.K. Whiteman, J. Merkel, K.D. Huyvaert & P.G. Parker (2006) Health survey of seabirds on Genovesa Island, Galápagos. Ornithological Monographs 60:86-97
20. Whiteman, N.K. & P.G. Parker (2005) Using parasites to infer host population history: A new rationale for parasite conservation. Animal Conservation 8:175-181
21. Whiteman, N.K., S.J. Goodman, B.J. Sinclair, T. Walsh, A.A. Cunningham, L.D. Kramer & P.G. Parker (2005) Establishment of the avian disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 (Diptera: Culicidae) on the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Ibis 147:843-847
22. Thiel, T., N.K. Whiteman, A. Tirapé, M. Ines Baquero, V. Cedeño, T. Walsh, G. Jimenez U. &P.G. Parker (2005) Characterization of canarypox-like viruses infecting endemic birds in the Galápagos Islands. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 41:342-353
23. Bollmer, J.L., N.K. Whiteman, M. Donaghy Cannon, J.C. Bednarz, T. de Vries & P.G. Parker (2005) Population genetic structure of the Galápagos Hawk: Genetic monomorphism within isolated populations. Auk 122:1210-1224
24. Whiteman, N.K., D. Santiago-Alarcon, K.P. Johnson & P.G. Parker (2004) Differences in straggling rates between two genera of dove lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) reinforce population genetic and cophylogenetic patterns. International Journal for Parasitology 34:1113-1119
25. Whiteman, N.K. & P.G. Parker (2004) Effects of host sociality on ectoparasite population biology. Journal of Parasitology 90:939-947
26. Whiteman, N.K. & P.G. Parker (2004) Body condition and parasite load predict territory ownership in the Galápagos Hawk. Condor 106:916-922
27. Whiteman, N.K. & R.W. Sites (2003) Lentic beetles of the Missouri Prairie Region: Habitat and regional associations, with keys to the Hydradephaga. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 129:185-243
28. Whiteman, N. & R.W. Sites (2001) Aquatic Polyphaga (Coleoptera) state records from the Prairie Region of Missouri. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 74:101-105
29. Whiteman, N.K. & B.H.P. Landwer (2000) Parasitoids reared from Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) nests in Missouri, with a new state record of Elasmus polistis Burks (Hymenoptera: Elasmidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 73:186-188
Please contact me via email: noahkwhiteman(at)gmail.com |
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