Grant H Pogson
| Title | Associate Professor |
| Division | Physical & Biological Sciences |
| Department | Ecology & Evolutionary Biology |
| Affiliations | Environmental Studies Department |
| Phone | 831-459-5122 |
| Web Site | Pogson Lab Selected Publications |
| Office | A301 Earth & Marine Sci Bldg |
| Campus Mail Stop | EE Biology / EMS |
| 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, CA 95064 |
Research Interests
Molecular Population Genetics, Ecological GeneticsOur laboratory is interested in understanding the processes that affect the levels and patterns of genetic variation in natural populations. We are particularly interested in developing techniques for measuring genetic variability at the DNA level and in using the insights provided by DNA polymorphism to make inferences about the operation of selection in populations of marine bivalve and fish species. In trivalves, our main research activities have been directed towards understanding the genetic basis of correlations between the degree of individual heterozygosity (measured at a number of polymorphic enzyme loci) and various fitness-related characters (such as growth, viability and fecundity). Recently, we have developed a set of 22 nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in the scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, and scored a subset of these loci in a cohort of juveniles that were previously known to exhibit a correlation between enzyme heterozygosity and growth rate. By demonstrating that growth rate failed to correlate with the degree of heterozygosity at the DNA level, we have obtained evidence favoring the direct involvement of a number of polymorphic enzyme loci to a fitness-related character.
We are also investigating the evolutionary dynamics of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism in a number of bivalve species. In the scallop, we have examined whether large-scale mtDNA size variation has an effect on fitness by comparing growth rates of individuals possessing different numbers of a large (1.45 kb) mtDNA repeated sequence. In mussels of the genus Mytilus, we are interested in the evolution of biparental inheritance of mtDNA.
Our work on the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, has included
* examining the genetic basis of variation in physiological performance among individuals from different stocks, and
* measuring the extent of population structure and gene flow through a combined analysis of variation at electrophoretic, mtDNA and nuclear RFLP loci.
Biography, Education and Training
B.S., Carleton UniversityPh.D. University of British Columbia