Welcome!

My name is Jason Gallant, and I am a fifth year graduate student working in the laboratories of Carl Hopkins and David Deitcher.

I am interested in the origin and adaptive radiation of novel structural characteristics that effect animal communication signals, especially those related to signal diversity, mate choice, and speciation.  To explore some of these questions, I have been studying the evolution of signal form and electric organ morphology  among the Mormyrid electric fishes of Africa in the genus Paramormyrops, which  have undergone explosive speciation in West Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, and Congo).

Currently, I am working on two aspects of the electric organ, a highly derived structure that has independently evolved in six lineages of fish.  Shown to the right is the electric organ of the mormyrid Paramormyrops kingselaye over several levels of magnification.  The last two boxes show the fine structure of individual electrocytes that comprise the electric organ.  For my Ph.D. work, I am investigating the variation in the structure and physiology of these individual electrocytes on multiple levels of analysis– we are currently searching for genes that may contribute to variation in these aspects of the electric organ.

Paramormyrops kingsleyae: a microcosm of signal evolution in Mormyridae

A great lead, so far, has been studying the model species Paramormyrops kingselaye and the natural variation in its electric organ across Gabon, West Central Africa.  Here, the fish are apparently polymorphic in some populations for a structural attribute of the electric organ that is important for signal evolution in all Paramormyrops and between several other genera of mormyrids. Learn more about that project here.

Identifying Candidate Genes for Signal Diversity

I am also developing protocols and techniques for identifying genes that are uniquely expressed in the electric organ– so far we have identified 15 of such genes in the mormyrid Brienomyrus brachyistius.  We hope to apply these techniques soon to Paramormyrops species– stay tuned.  Learn more about that project here.