PhD Student: Nadine Schubert 2019 - present
PhD Student at Bielefeld University, co-supervised by Dr. Jamie Winternitz and Dr Hazel Nichols
Project: The genetic basis of social communication in the banded mongoose
Banded mongooses, as many other mammals, heavily rely on olfactory cues when assessing information about their conspecifics or dispatching clues about themselves for others. However, one thing that is special about them is their cooperative lifestyle. Banded mongooses live in mixed-sex groups where multiple females effectively synchronize their oestrus and birth. Since the pups of one pack are often born simultaneously, they appear to remain anonymous with not the real mother but another adult of the group caring for them. This, together with the fact that there is only low dispersal and most individuals stay within their natal group over their whole life, causes a high risk of inbreeding. Hence, being able to assess the family background of a potential mate is complicated but can be beneficial to avoid mating with a close relative.
Interestingly, banded mongooses have been shown to prefer mates that are less related, rather than mating randomly. Since banded mongooses excessively perform scent marking and odor might act as a medium carrying information on relatedness, we would like to identify the genes that regulate scent secretions. Genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) are promising candidates, as they consist of ancient and highly polymorphic loci that have important functions in immune response. MHC genes have been shown to play a role social communication in several species and it is the aim of this project to unravel the relationships between these genes and the composition of scents used in social communication in banded mongooses.
Before I came to Bielefeld to start my PhD project, I conducted my master thesis at the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. In my master thesis I investigated the spatial behavior of European hedgehogs under the influence of artificial light at night using GPS and acceleration devices.
Before starting my undergraduate with a focus on molecular biology at the RWTH Aachen and performing my master’s program at Bonn University, I completed my training as a medical technical lab assistant. During my time at the RWTH I conducted molecular-pathological analyses at the Neuropathology. Since the beginning, I am heavily interested in behavior and how it is orchestrated by molecular and genetic mechanisms. It fascinates me how processes on small scale influence behavior which is observable with the bare eye and crucial to the establishment of an individual within its environment. Furthermore, I am interested in anthropogenic influence on our environment and in the conjunction of research and conservation.
Project: The genetic basis of social communication in the banded mongoose
Banded mongooses, as many other mammals, heavily rely on olfactory cues when assessing information about their conspecifics or dispatching clues about themselves for others. However, one thing that is special about them is their cooperative lifestyle. Banded mongooses live in mixed-sex groups where multiple females effectively synchronize their oestrus and birth. Since the pups of one pack are often born simultaneously, they appear to remain anonymous with not the real mother but another adult of the group caring for them. This, together with the fact that there is only low dispersal and most individuals stay within their natal group over their whole life, causes a high risk of inbreeding. Hence, being able to assess the family background of a potential mate is complicated but can be beneficial to avoid mating with a close relative.
Interestingly, banded mongooses have been shown to prefer mates that are less related, rather than mating randomly. Since banded mongooses excessively perform scent marking and odor might act as a medium carrying information on relatedness, we would like to identify the genes that regulate scent secretions. Genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) are promising candidates, as they consist of ancient and highly polymorphic loci that have important functions in immune response. MHC genes have been shown to play a role social communication in several species and it is the aim of this project to unravel the relationships between these genes and the composition of scents used in social communication in banded mongooses.
Before I came to Bielefeld to start my PhD project, I conducted my master thesis at the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. In my master thesis I investigated the spatial behavior of European hedgehogs under the influence of artificial light at night using GPS and acceleration devices.
Before starting my undergraduate with a focus on molecular biology at the RWTH Aachen and performing my master’s program at Bonn University, I completed my training as a medical technical lab assistant. During my time at the RWTH I conducted molecular-pathological analyses at the Neuropathology. Since the beginning, I am heavily interested in behavior and how it is orchestrated by molecular and genetic mechanisms. It fascinates me how processes on small scale influence behavior which is observable with the bare eye and crucial to the establishment of an individual within its environment. Furthermore, I am interested in anthropogenic influence on our environment and in the conjunction of research and conservation.