Chris Balakrishnan

Ph.D. Boston University

Now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

Christopher N. Balakrishnan
University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Institute for Genomic Biology 2500N
1206 West Gregory Drive MC-195
Urbana, IL 61801
phone: (217) 244 1207
fax: (217) 244 1781

Current Email Address: cbala(at)igb.uiuc.edu

Education:

Ph.D. Boston University 2005

B.A. University of Pennsylvania 1997

Research Interests:

In my research I use a combination of molecular and behavioral approaches to study evolutionary processes. As a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, I am using a genomic approach to study the population genetics of the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata and other estrildid finches. Because of its position as a model system in studies of behavior and neurobiology and as a developing model system for genomics, the zebra finch is an ideal species on which to conduct a survey of genomic diversity. I aim to describe patterns of noncoding polymorphism and recombination in wild populations of zebra finches. These results will be contrasted with data from coding loci. In particular I will be testing for the influence of natural selection on a panel of genes of interest, such as the MHC. These studies will be among the first to assess patterns of genome-scale variation in a wild bird species.

Double-barred Finch Taeniopygia bichenovii (Photo: Jeremiah Trimble)

In my dissertation research, I studied a group of birds called indigobirds (Vidua spp.).Indigobirds are host specific brood parasites that have diversified in a recent radiation driven by host shifts (Sorenson et al 2003). Imprinting on their estrildid finch host species, female indigobirds choose mates based on their mimicry of host song and parasitize nests of the species that reared them (Payne et al. 1998, 2000). Thus, song learning and mimicry are expected to result in reproductive isolation of indigobird populations associated with different hosts and promote speciation following host colonization. These same behavioral mechanisms, however, may also lead to hybridization among established species and it is not clear to what extent the limited genetic differentiation among indigobird species is due to retained ancestral polymorphism versus ongoing hybridization. I used genetic and behavioral approaches to test for reproductive isolation among sympatric indigobird species and host races occurring in Cameroon.

Cameroon Indigobird Vidua camerunensis

Recent Publications:

Balakrishnan, C.N. & M.D. Sorenson. 2007. Dispersal ecology versus host specialization as determinants of ectoparasite distribution in brood parasitic indigobirds and their estrildid finch hosts. Molecular Ecology 16: 217-229.- pdf

Balakrishnan, C.N. & M.D. Sorenson. 2006. Premating reproductive isolation among sympatric indigobird species and host races. Behavioral Ecology 17: 473 - 478. - pdf

Edwards, S.V., S.B. Kingan, J.D. Calkins, C.N. Balakrishnan, W.B. Jennings, W.J. Swanson & M.D. Sorenson. 2005. Speciation in birds: genes, geography, and sexual selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 102: 6550-6557. - pdf

Payne, R.B., C.R. Barlow, C.N. Balakrishnan, M.D. Sorenson. 2005. Song mimicry by brood-parasitic indigobirds Vidua camerunensis of Black-bellied Firefinch Lagonosticta rara and other finches in West Africa. Ibis 147: 130-143. - pdf

Sorenson M.D., C.N. Balakrishnan, and R.B. Payne. 2004. Clade-limited colonization in brood parasitic finches (Vidua spp.). Systematic Biology 53(1): 140-153. - pdf

Balakrishnan, C.N., S.L. Monfort, A. Gaur, L. Singh, M.D. Sorenson. 2003. Phylogeography and conservation genetics of the Eld's deer (Cervus eldi). Molecular Ecology 12:1-10. - pdf

References:

Payne, R. B.; L. L. Payne, and J. L. Woods. 1998. Song learning in brood-parasitic indigobirds Vidua chalybeata: song mimicry of the host species. Animal Behaviour 55:1537-1553.

Payne, R. B.; L. L. Payne; J. L. Woods, and M. D. Sorenson. 2000. Imprinting and the origin of parasite-host species associations in brood-parasitic indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata. Animal Behaviour 59:69-81

Sorenson, M. D.; K. M. Sefc, and R. B. Payne. 2003. Speciation by host switch in brood parasitic indigobirds. Nature 424:928-931.