Miriam Linnenbrink

From EESwiki

Dipl. biol. Miriam Linnenbrink

Section of Evolutionary Biology
LMU BioCenter
Grosshaderner Str. 2
82152 Planegg-Martinsried
Germany

E-Mail: linnenbrink@biologie.uni-muenchen.de

My PhD thesis

Selection on expression variation at B4galnt2 in natural populations of house mice

This project aims to elucidate the evolutionary forces governing variation at the B4galnt2 gene in natural populations of house mice. Two highly divergent alleles segregating in natural populations confer a tissue-specific switch in the expression of B4galnt2 and display evidence of balancing selection. One of these alleles confers a blood vessel expression pattern and is associated with a phenotype in mice that closely resembles a common human bleeding disorder, von Willebrand disease. Different local populations of Mus musculus domesticus display dramatic differences in the frequency of these alleles. The objectives include: 1) a population genetic analysis of variation at B4galnt2 and neutrally evolving reference loci in populations of Mus musculus domesticus, 2) a fine-scale analysis of variation in the 5’ flanking region and expression patterns of B4galnt2 in closely related species and 3) a screening of the intestinal bacterial flora between wild mice of different genotypes.