Teiya Kijimoto
Assistant Professor
Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building 2420
252-328-9400
kijimotot25@ecu.edu
Education
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Biology, Indiana University, 2006-2014
- PhD, Biology, The Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology), 2005
- B.S., Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 1998
Research Interests
Organisms develop traits that are unique to certain taxonomic groups and play important ecological roles. Using insects, we study the developmental genetic underpinnings of such traits in various contexts. Our main models are dung beetles and ambrosia beetles.
In dung beetles, horns are the focal trait, and we investigate how gene usage affect their development across species, populations, sexes, body parts, and environmental conditions.
In ambrosia beetles, we examine the function of genes that might have played critical roles in the evolution of pouch-like structures that are used to transport symbiotic fungi, the beetles’ only food source. We also explore how symbiotic fungi have adapted to their hosts through the process of association. Together, we aim to understand how shifts in gene regulation, in both hosts and symbionts, drive the evolution of symbiosis.