Martin E Feder

My research focuses on understanding adaptation to the environment from both a mechanistic and evolutionary perspective; i.e., how organisms function in natural environments, the mechanisms underlying this function, the evolutionary origin, maintenance, and constraint of this function, the evolutionary consequences of variation in function, and how all of these aspects are encoded or reflected in the genome. Thus, my research focuses at the intersection of the four disciplinary domains shown to the left; i.e., evolutionary and ecological functional genomics. My research program addresses this suite of issues through a multidisciplinary, problem-oriented approach.

My present emphasis is on ecological and evolutionary physiology of the stress response [the induction of a specific suite of proteins (stress or heat-shock proteins) by extreme temperatures and other stresses]. Several projects are underway, with a common theme: HEAT-SHOCK PROTEINS AND GENES.

Summary: My laboratory investigates the heat-shock protein Hsp70, its encoding genes, and its regulation in Drosophila as a model system for understanding evolutionary adaptation. Hsp70 is a molecular chaperone that deters stress-induced protein aggregation, but has numerous other functions. Hsp70 is necessary for full-strength tolerance (in terms of survival, normal development, normal function) of high temperature. Such tolerance is critical in nature, where non-adult Drosophila undergo harmful to lethal high temperatures. In nature, Drosophila populations vary in stress tolerance and Hsp70 levels. Our current major focus is on understanding the genomic basis for this variation. The number of hsp70 gene copies and evolution of the hsp70 coding sequence are partial or inadequate explanations. Evidently cis-regulatory regions such as proximal promoters underlie intraspecific variation in Hsp70 levels. Repeated insertion of mobile genetic elements into these promoters is a recurrent mechanism of evolution.

My research focuses on understanding adaptation to the environment from both a mechanistic and evolutionary perspective; i.e., how organisms function in natural environments, the mechanisms underlying this function, the evolutionary origin, maintenance, and constraint of this function, the evolutionary consequences of variation in function, and how all of these aspects are encoded or reflected in the genome. Thus, my research focuses at the intersection of the four disciplinary domains shown to the left; i.e., evolutionary and ecological functional genomics. My research program addresses this suite of issues through a multidisciplinary, problem-oriented approach.

My present emphasis is on ecological and evolutionary physiology of the stress response [the induction of a specific suite of proteins (stress or heat-shock proteins) by extreme temperatures and other stresses]. Several projects are underway, with a common theme: HEAT-SHOCK PROTEINS AND GENES.

Summary: My laboratory investigates the heat-shock protein Hsp70, its encoding genes, and its regulation in Drosophila as a model system for understanding evolutionary adaptation. Hsp70 is a molecular chaperone that deters stress-induced protein aggregation, but has numerous other functions. Hsp70 is necessary for full-strength tolerance (in terms of survival, normal development,...

Walser JC, Chen, B, Feder ME. 2006. Heat-shock promoters: targets for evolution by P transposable elements in Drosophila. PLoS Genetics 2: e165.  View publication online

Shilova, V., D. Garbuz, E. Myasyankina, B. Chen, M. Evgen'ev, M.E. Feder, and O. Zatsepina. 2006. Remarkable site specificity of local transposition into the Hsp70 promoter of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 178: 809-820  View publication online

Feder ME. 2007. Evolvability of physiological and biochemical traits: evolutionary mechanisms including and beyond single-nucleotide mutation. Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 1653-1660 

Chen, B., Walser, J-C., Rodgers, T.H., Sobota, R.S., Burke, M.K., Rose, M.R., and Feder, M.E., 2007. Abundant, diverse, and consequential P elements segregate in promoters of small heat-shock genes in Drosophila populations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 2056-2066 

Feder, M.E., and T. Mitchell-Olds. 2003. Evolutionary and ecological functional genomics. Nature Reviews Genetics 4: 649-655.  View publication online

Rashkovetzy, E., K. Iliadi, P. Michalak, A. Lupu, E. Nevo, M.E. Feder, and A. Korol. 2006. Adaptive differentiation of thermotolerance in Drosophila along a microclimatic gradient. Heredity 96:353-359.  View publication online

R.P. Brown and M.E. Feder. 2005. Reverse transcriptional profiling: non-correspondence of transcript level variation and proximal promoter polymorphism. BMC Genomics 6:110 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/6/110  View publication online

Feder, M.E. and J.-C. Walser. 2005. The biological limitations of transcriptomics in elucidating stress and stress responses. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 18: 901-910  View publication online

Lerman DN, Feder ME. 2005. Naturally occurring transposable elements disrupt hsp70 promoter function in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol. Biol. Evol. 22:776-783.  View publication online

Velikodvorskaia VV, Lyozin GT, Feder ME, Evgen'ev MB. 2005. Unusual arrangement of the hsp68 locus in the virilis species group of Drosophila implicates evolutionary loss of an hsp68 gene. Genome 48: 234-240  View publication online

Walser JC, Chen, B, Feder ME. 2006. Heat-shock promoters: targets for evolution by P transposable elements in Drosophila. PLoS Genetics 2: e165.  View publication online

Shilova, V., D. Garbuz, E. Myasyankina, B. Chen, M. Evgen'ev, M.E. Feder, and O. Zatsepina. 2006. Remarkable site specificity of local transposition into the Hsp70 promoter of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 178: 809-820  View publication online

Feder ME. 2007. Evolvability of physiological and biochemical traits: evolutionary mechanisms including and beyond single-nucleotide mutation. Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 1653-1660 

Chen, B., Walser, J-C., Rodgers, T.H., Sobota, R.S., Burke, M.K., Rose, M.R., and Feder, M.E., 2007. Abundant, diverse, and consequential P elements segregate in promoters of small heat-shock genes in Drosophila populations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 2056-2066 

Feder, M.E., and T. Mitchell-Olds. 2003. Evolutionary and ecological functional genomics. Nature Reviews Genetics 4: 649-655.  View publication online