Elmer Lab

 Welcome to new PhD student Joris Philip who joins us studying parallel evolution and molecular mechanisms of divergence in Arctic charr ecotypes, co-supervised with Arne Jacobs. Joris is funded by a Fisheries Society of the British Isles studentship

by J. Smout Fieldwork update:  Summer 2024 saw the start of a new phase of research on our field site in the Gailtal region of Austria. The site hosts a hybrid zone of oviparous (egg laying) and viviparous (live bearing) lineages of common lizards, Zootoca vivipara. Past research by Elmer Lab members and alumni has focussed on understanding the genetic architecture of viviparity and oviparity as well as investigating differences in reproductive investment, and reproductive success of the different lineages and hybrids.  Our new project, funded by a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant, centres on a controlled breeding experiment to take place in situ at the hybrid zone. By setting up experimental crosses between oviparous, viviparous, and hybrid lizards of both sexes and by keeping the offspring for the duration of the project, we can address gaps in our existing knowledge of the hybrid zone such as differences in the inclusive fitness of male vs. female lizards and how hybridisat...

 In a new paper that both develops a method and evaluates it, John Smout publishes on primary cell culture from lizard oviduct or uterus tissue Published in Experimental Cell Research   This was a collaboration between our lab and the cell culture expertise of Mark McLaughlin at the Vet School. It is part of John's PhD work, which was funded from the University of Glasgow MVLS-DTP Abstract Reproduction by egg-laying (oviparity) or live-bearing (viviparity) is a genetically determined trait fundamental to the biology of amniotes. Squamates are an emerging model for the genetics of reproductive mode yet lack cell culture models valuable for exploring molecular mechanisms. Here, we report a novel primary culture model for reproductive biology: cell cultures derived from the oviduct tissues (infundibulum, uterus and vagina) of oviparous and viviparous common lizards (Lacertidae: Zootoca vivipara) . We maintained and expanded these cultures for over 100 days, including repeated sub...

A new paper from Hans Recknagel (during his PhD/postdoc) and Robbie Hussain (while an intern with us) uses the common lizard oviparous - viviparous hybrid zone as an experimental system to measure the cost of running. Published in  Ecology and Evolution  open access  Abstract  Pregnancy is a physiological cost of reproduction for animals that rely on fleeing to avoid predators. Costs of reproduction are predicted to differ between alternative reproductive strategies or modes, such as egg-laying (oviparity) or live-bearing (viviparity). However, disentangling the factors that comprise this cost and how it differs for oviparous or viviparous females is challenging due to myriad environmental, biological, and evolutionary confounds. Here, we tested the hypothesis that costs of pregnancy differ between oviparous and viviparous common lizards (Zootoca vivipara). We predicted that the degree of locomotor impairment during pregnancy and therefore the cost of reproduction wo...

 Congrats to Sam Fenton and John Smout for successfully passing their vivas spring 2024!  And some amazing PhD cakes (made by friends and lab mates) to celebrate

My name is Nic Strowbridge, I am currently a 4th year IAPETUS PhD student in the Elmer lab. Here is a post about my fieldwork experience studying salamanders! Spring 2024 marked the first fieldwork experience for my IAPETUS PhD. We travelled to the Principality of Asturias in Northern Spain to the Elmer lab field site near the Río Color. In this region, there is a unique population of a subspecies of the European fire salamander, S. salamandra bernardezi , which exhibits a striking diversity of colour and pattern polymorphisms. For my IAPETUS PhD project, we are examining the underlying molecular mechanisms that produce these different colour and patterns. Previous work in the lab has shown that there are gene expression differences between the colour morphs, but other molecular mechanisms may be present in determining the different colours and pattern. My work uses Oxford Nanopore sequencing to determine if other molecular mechanisms, such asRNA methylatio...