# overview
Our research broadly lies in understanding how organisms respond and adapt to changing environments, with an emphasis on circadian biology. Organisms from bacteria to humans use circadian clocks to control a plethora of biochemical, physiological and behavioral rhythms. These clocks are synchronized to daily and seasonal environmental changes to allow organisms to tune specific activities at the appropriate times of day or year.

In our laboratory, we use the eastern North American migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) as a model system to study animal clock mechanisms and the role of circadian clocks and clock genes in a fascinating biological output, the animal long-distance migration. Every fall, like clockwork, millions of monarch butterflies start migrating thousands of miles from North America to reach their overwintering sites in central Mexico. During their journey south, migrating monarchs use a time-compensated sun compass orientation mechanism to maintain a constant flight bearing. Circadian clocks located in the antennae provide the critical internal timing device for compensation of the sun movement across the sky over the course of the day. The recent sequencing of the monarch genome and the establishment of genetic tools to knockout clock genes (and others) in vivo using nuclease-mediated gene targeting approaches provides us with a unique opportunity to uncover the molecular and cellular underpinnings of the butterfly clockwork, its migratory behavior and their interplay.

# keywords[]
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

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Intracellular Signaling Peptides And Proteins

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Massachusetts Medical School - (Worcester, Massachusetts, United States)

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Weighting of Celestial and Terrestrial Cues in the Monarch Butterfly Central Complex.

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Unraveling navigational strategies in migratory insects.

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Flight-induced compass representation in the monarch butterfly heading network.

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Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Lepidoptera

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P450 and P450 reductase cDNAs from the moth Mamestra brassicae: cloning and expression patterns in male antennae.

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Genomic Access to Monarch Migration Using TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Targeted Mutagenesis.

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Efficient targeted mutagenesis in the monarch butterfly using zinc-finger nucleases.

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Evidence for a putative antennal clock in Mamestra brassicae: molecular cloning and characterization of two clock genes--period and cryptochrome-- in antennae.

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A new aldehyde oxidase selectively expressed in chemosensory organs of insects.

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EFFECTS OF DISRUPTED CIRCADIAN CLOCK ONAEDES AEGYPTI BEHAVIORS

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Sun compass neurons are tuned to migratory orientation in monarch butterflies.

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Vertebrate-like CRYPTOCHROME 2 from monarch regulates circadian transcription via independent repression of CLOCK and BMAL1 activity.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Antennal esterase cDNAs from two pest moths, Spodoptera littoralis and Sesamia nonagrioides, potentially involved in odourant degradation.

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Keeping time without a spine: what can the insect clock teach us about seasonal adaptation?

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The genetics and epigenetics of animal migration and orientation: birds, butterflies and beyond.

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Genome-wide discovery of the daily transcriptome, DNA regulatory elements and transcription factor occupancy in the monarch butterfly brain.

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Navigational mechanisms of migrating monarch butterflies.

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An Expressed Sequence Tag collection from the male antennae of the Noctuid moth Spodoptera littoralis: a resource for olfactory and pheromone detection research.

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The monarch butterfly genome yields insights into long-distance migration.

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Discordant timing between antennae disrupts sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies.

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Neurobiology of Monarch Butterfly Migration.

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Photoperiodic and clock regulation of the vitamin A pathway in the brain mediates seasonal responsiveness in the monarch butterfly.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Putative odorant-degrading esterase cDNA from the moth Mamestra brassicae: cloning and expression patterns in male and female antennae.

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Cryptochrome 1 mediates light-dependent inclination magnetosensing in monarch butterflies.

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Molecular cloning and in Situ expression patterns of two new pheromone-binding proteins from the corn stemborer Sesamia nonagrioides.

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CLOCKWORK ORANGE promotes CLOCK-CYCLE activation via the putative Drosophila ortholog of CLOCK INTERACTING PROTEIN CIRCADIAN.

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Monarch Butterfly Migration Moving into the Genetic Era.

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An antennal circadian clock and circadian rhythms in peripheral pheromone reception in the moth Spodoptera littoralis.

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Insect olfactory receptors: contributions of molecular biology to chemical ecology.

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Molecular identification and characterization of two new Lepidoptera chemoreceptors belonging to the Drosophila melanogaster OR83b family.

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TRITHORAX-dependent arginine methylation of HSP68 mediates circadian repression by PERIOD in the monarch butterfly.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Antennal circadian clocks coordinate sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies.

# publications[].publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

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Impact of disabled circadian clock on yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti fitness and behaviors.

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Defining clock neuronal circuits that control seasonal behavior

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Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation - (New York, New York, United States)

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Circadian Clock Control of Seasonal Migration

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National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

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Epigenetic Regulation of Seasonal Behavior in Insects

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National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

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National Institutes of Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.preferredLabel
DHHS-NIH-National Institute of General Medical Science

# streetAddress
Texas A&M University; Biology; 3258 TAMU