Molecular Studies of Cospeciation in a Host-Parasite        Assemblage
{'Code': '08010207', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Scott L. Collins', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The theory of cospeciation proposes that when two organisms                are intricately associated as hosts and parasites, events that                  cause speciation in one member of the pair (the host) will also                 cause speciation in the other member (the parasite).  The main                  purpose of this research is to test the hypothesis of                           cospeciation in a group of rodent hosts (pocket gophers) and                    their ectoparasitic chewing lice.  This will be accomplished by                 the researchers comparing the amounts of evolutionary change in                 hosts and parasites based on amounts of sequence difference in                  nucleic acid molecules.                                                              To date, the researchers have used genetic data, gathered                  independently for pocket gophers and chewing lice, to produce an                evolutionary tree for pocket gophers, and one for their chewing                 lice.  When the branching structure of the pocket gopher and                    chewing louse trees was compared by statistical methods, it was                 found to be remarkably similar.  Although this is necessary                     evidence to document cospeciation, it is not sufficient evidence:               it must also be demonstrated that speciation events in these                    hosts and parasites occurred at approximately the same time.                    This can be tested by comparing amounts of molecular change in                  coexisting hosts and parasites since hypothesized cospeciation                  events.  The theory will be falsified if there are unequal                      amounts of molecular change.  Equal amounts of change will                      constitute strong evidence in support of the cospeciation theory                for this host-parasite assemblage.
[{'FirstName': 'Mark', 'LastName': 'Hafner', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'S', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Mark S Hafner', 'EmailAddress': 'namark@lsu.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000443352', 'StartDate': '01/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Steven', 'LastName': 'Nadler', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'A', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Steven A Nadler', 'EmailAddress': 'sanadler@ucdavis.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000398280', 'StartDate': '01/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}]
{'Name': 'Louisiana State University', 'CityName': 'BATON ROUGE', 'ZipCode': '708030001', 'PhoneNumber': '2255782760', 'StreetAddress': '202 HIMES HALL', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Louisiana', 'StateCode': 'LA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '06', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'LA06', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'ECQEYCHRNKJ4', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': 'Z7ZNZH7LJ778'}
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{'Code': '1127', 'Text': 'Evolutionary Processes'}
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