Evolution in Action: Mate Competition
Weeds out GM Fish from Population
A Purdue University research team has found that wild-type zebrafish
consistently beat out genetically modified Glofish in competition for female
mates, an advantage that led to the disappearance of the transgene from the
fish population over time.
The study, the first to demonstrate evolutionary outcomes in the laboratory,
showed that mate competition trumps mate choice in determining natural
“Mating success is actually a stronger force of evolution than survival of the
fittest,” says William Muir, professor of animal sciences. “If an organism
can’t get a mate, it can’t pass its genes on. In terms of evolution, whether it
survives or not doesn’t matter.”
Muir and Richard Howard, professor emeritus of biology, conducted a long-term study of mating success in mixed populations of wild-type zebrafish
and Glofish — zebrafish containing a transgene cloned from a sea anemone
that produces a fluorescent red protein. Although female zebrafish strongly
preferred the neon red males to their brown, wild-type counterparts, the
females were coerced into spawning with the wild-type males who aggressively chased away their transgenic rivals.
As a result, the rate at which the red transgenic trait appeared in offspring
fell rapidly over 15 generations of more than 18,500 fish and ultimately
disappeared in all but one of 18 populations.
Purdue Leads Research Using Advanced Technologies
to Better Grow Sorghum as Biofuel
Purdue University has been awarded $6.5 million by the U.S. Department of Energy for research aimed at producing superior strains
of sorghum suitable for growing as a biofuel.
The grant is among six Transportation Energy Resources from Renewable Agriculture
awards nationwide from DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The projects are focused on accelerating energy crop development for the production of renewable transportation fuels.
A team of researchers from the Purdue colleges of Agriculture and Engineering and
Purdue’s Polytechnic Institute has partnered in the project with IBM Research, the largest industrial research organization in the world, and a scientist at the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia.
The project will benefit from investments in the Purdue Moves plant sciences initiative,
» A recently installed fiber-optic cable data connection from the field to campus.
» Equipment such as the new Purdue Phenomobile and Purdue’s Automated Field
Phenotyping and Seed Processing Laboratory at the Agronomy Center for
Research and Education.
» The Laboratory for Agriculture Sensing and Analytics Research, part of Purdue’s
Global Sustainability Institute at Discovery Park.
Leading the team is Mitch Tuinstra, professor of plant breeding and genetics in the
Fall 2015 9