Advancing Phylogenomics of Whale Lice (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Cyamidae) through Ultraconserved Elements (UCEs)

• Grant number: 24/06934-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: November 15, 2024
• End date: May 24, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Sónia Cristina da Silva Andrade
• Grantee: Tammy Iwasa Arai
• Supervisor: Gonzalo Giribet
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Harvard University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/13979-4 - The evolutionary history of Whale Lice: from species adaptations to family phylogeny, BP.PD

Abstract

In the marine environment, understanding the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of marine vertebrates poses inherent challenges. Parasites play a pivotal role in elucidating the intricacies of these interactions. Among such parasites, 'whale lice', obligatory ectoparasites found on whales and dolphins, are of particular interest. These crustaceans undergo direct development and rely on intimate physical contact for colonizing new hosts. Presently, the monophyletic family Cyamidae encompasses 32 species distributed across seven genera and two subfamilies, and a single phylogeny was proposed for the family based on morphological characters. Aiming to unravel the genetic adaptations to epibiosis, we are generating the genome of Cyamus boopis, marking the first genome of this family. Our primary objective is to harness the genomic information to design probes targeting ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Since its debut approximately ten years ago, the sequencing of UCEs through target enrichment has emerged as an indispensable tool in research spanning evolutionary scales. Consequently, it has been utilized in various fields, including population genetics, historical biogeography, and deep evolutionary history. Here we propose an internship of six months in partnership with the Giribet Lab at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MA, USA), to design the first UCEs probe set for Peracarida with emphasis on whale lice. By integrating cutting-edge genetic techniques with both fresh and museum-preserved specimens, our study aspires to reconstruct the phylogeny of Cyamidae based on UCEs. This approach promises to provide unprecedented insights into the evolutionary trajectory of this enigmatic taxon and its intricate association with whales and dolphins.