Teaching the Genome Generation: Bringing Modern Human Genetics into the Classroom Through Teacher Professional Development.

Teaching the Genome Generation (TtGG) is a teacher professional development program and set of high school biology lessons that support interwoven classroom instruction of molecular genetics, bioinformatics, and bioethics. Participating teachers from across New England implement the modular elements of program at a high rate in a variety of biology classrooms. Evaluation data collected over three academic years (2014/15 to 2016/17) indicate that TtGG has increased teachers' abilities to integrate complex concepts of genomics and bioethics into their high school classes.

Asymmetrical positive assortative mating induced by developmental lead (Pb2+) exposure in a model system, Drosophila melanogaster.

Anthropogenic pollutants have the potential to disrupt reproductive strategies. Little is known about how lead (Pb2+) exposure disrupts individual-level responses in reproductive behaviors, which are important for fitness. Drosophila melanogaster was used as a model system to determine the effects of: 1) developmental lead exposure on pre-mating reproductive behaviors (i.e., mate preference), and 2) lead exposure and mating preferences on fitness in the F0 parental generation and F1 un-exposed offspring. Wild-type strains of D. melanogaster were reared from egg stage to adulthood in control or leaded medium (250 µM PbAc) and tested for differences in: mate preference, male song performance, sex pheromone expression, fecundity, mortality, and body weight. F0 leaded females preferentially mated with leaded males (i.e., asymmetrical positive assortative mating) in 2-choice tests. This positive assortative mating was mediated by the females (and not the males) and was dependent upon context and developmental exposure to Pb. Neither the courtship song nor the sex pheromone profile expressed by control and leaded males mediated the positive assortative mating in leaded females. Leaded females did not incur a fitness cost in terms of reduced fecundity, increased mortality, or decreased body weight by mating with leaded males. These results suggest that sublethal exposure to lead during development can alter mate preferences in adults, but not fitness measures once lead exposure has been removed. We suggest that changes in mate preference may induce fitness costs, as well as long-term population and multi-generational implications, if pollution is persistent in the environment.

Acoustic duetting in Drosophila virilis relies on the integration of auditory and tactile signals.

Many animal species, including insects, are capable of acoustic duetting, a complex social behavior in which males and females tightly control the rate and timing of their courtship song syllables relative to each other. The mechanisms underlying duetting remain largely unknown across model systems. Most studies of duetting focus exclusively on acoustic interactions, but the use of multisensory cues should aid in coordinating behavior between individuals. To test this hypothesis, we develop Drosophila virilis as a new model for studies of duetting. By combining sensory manipulations, quantitative behavioral assays, and statistical modeling, we show that virilis females combine precisely timed auditory and tactile cues to drive song production and duetting. Tactile cues delivered to the abdomen and genitalia play the larger role in females, as even headless females continue to coordinate song production with courting males. These data, therefore, reveal a novel, non-acoustic, mechanism for acoustic duetting. Finally, our results indicate that female-duetting circuits are not sexually differentiated, as males can also produce 'female-like' duets in a context-dependent manner.