UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY
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Current major projects in the Duda Lab:
Recently awarded funds from the National Science Foundation are supporting the
study of the evolution of venoms and feeding specializations of a set of closely
related Conus species.
We will specifically compare venom compositions and diets of
several populations of three Conus species from the Indo-Pacific. The work to be
conducted includes characterization of Conus diets through examination of DNA
sequences obtained from snail feces and characterization of Conus venoms through
analyses of venom duct mRNA sequences.
A study of ecological release is supported from funds from the National Geographic
Committee on Research and Exploration.
Conus miliaris is essentially the only Conus
to occur at Easter Island. Based on Alan J. Kohn's work on this species, the population at
Easter Island exhibits a much greater dietary breadth than do populations of this species
elsewhere. We will be examining the diets of individual snails at Easter Island to first
determine whether the greater dietary breadth is inherent within all individuals of this
population or if individuals exhibit individual-level resource specialization. We will also
compare venoms of individuals from the Easter Island population to those of individuals from
elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific to determine whether wider diets are associated in changes
in venom compositions.
Field work was recently completed in the Philippines for a study of dietary specializations
of piscivorous Conus.
In brief, diets of piscivorous Conus will be described from analyses of
DNA sequences recovered from the feces of snails. We thank everyone who helped make this
work possible, including Dan Lindstrom and members of the Silliman University Angelo
King Center for Research and Environmental Management [http://www.su.edu.ph/suakcrem/index.htm]
and Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences [http://su.edu.ph/marinelab/index.html ]
(Moon, Brian, Renclar, Ma'am Em, Jasper and Abner)! Funding for this work was provided by the
University of Michigan's Office of the Vice President for Research.
Other projects currently going on in the Duda Lab:
Graduate student Dan Chang is working on her characterization of conotoxin gene families study -- the diversity of conotoxin sequences she's uncovering is mind-boggling!
Undergraduate Matt Bolin just completed a study of the Conus sponsalis species complex. Stay tuned for the publication that has resulted from that work - there are always surprises in Conus! Matt's now enrolled in medical school at OSU.
Stephen Hickner, an undergraduate student in the lab, also just completed a study of venom
composition of two easily confused Conus species and presented the work at the UROP Spring
Symposium in April 2007. He is now beginning to examine ontogenetic shifts in venom
composition of Conus together with postdoc Taehwan Lee.
Undergraduate Thomas Wong is currently engaged in obtaining sequences from potential Conus prey and Conus feces to look at dietary specializations of Conus.
Sarah Leinwand, an undergraduate student, is working hard to make the Mollusk Division's wet collection a better place to work and an easier place to find things. Stay tuned for searchable databases of this collection!