B.S., University of California- Davis, 2001
M.S., University of Chicago, 2003
I am broadly interested in the genetics of species formation, or the evolution of traits that prevent gene exchange between populations. While my previous research examined reduced success of sperm in female reproductive tracts of other species, my current research focuses on 1) identifying genes responsible for hybrid male sterility in hybrids between Drosophila persimilis and D. pseudoobscura bogotana and 2) dissecting the genetic interactions between these sterility-conferring loci that produce incompatibility in hybrid males. To this end, I utilized a combination of backcross and introgression mapping strategies to localize three QTLs (one on each autosome) from D. persimilis that underlie hybrid male sterility in an otherwise D. p. bogotana genetic background. Results from these studies show that interactions between sterility alleles from one species, in addition to interactions with the foreign genetic background, are critical in generating this form of hybrid incompatibility. I am currently in the process of fine-mapping one locus with the end goal of identifying a "speciation gene" responsible for hybrid sterility.
Chang, A. S., and M. A. F. Noor. 2007. The genetics of hybrid male sterility between the allopatric species pair Drosophila persimilis and D. pseudoobscura bogotana: Dominant sterility alleles in collinear autosomal regions. Genetics, 176: 343-349 Abstract.
Noor, M. A. F., and A. S. Chang. 2006. Evolutionary genetics: Jumping into a new species. Current Biology, 16: R890-R892.
Ortiz-Barrientos, D., A. S. Chang, and M. A. F. Noor. 2006. A recombinational portrait of the Drosophila pseudoobscura genome. Genetical Research, 87: 23-31. Supplementary Excel list of primers
Chang, A. S. 2004. Conspecific sperm precedence in sister species of Drosophila with overlapping ranges. Evolution 58: 781-789. Abstract.
Coyne, J. A., S. Y. Kim, A. S. Chang, D. Lachaise, and S. Elwyn. 2002. Sexual isolation between two sibling species with overlapping ranges: Drosophila santomea and Drosophila yakuba. Evolution 56: 2424-2434. Abstract.
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