Functional evolution of avian taste receptors

Sensory systems are critical for an organism’s survival and display remarkable diversity—as different species inhabit different environments and occupy diverse niches, sensory systems rapidly evolve to detect the cues relevant for a particular species. Examining these sensory changes in a comparative context yields insight into the evolution of the nervous system and animal behavior, and into broad questions about basic evolutionary processes such as the extent of convergence, the role of epistasis and contingency, and how novel protein functions arise. In this talk, I will highlight current projects in our lab examining the evolution of taste receptors in birds.