Sarah D. Kocher Position Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics Title Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics Office Phone 609-258-9467 Email [email protected] Office 327 Moffett Laboratory Bio/Description Research Focus It has long been accepted that both genetic and environmental factors influence behavior, but a clear understanding of how these factors interact to produce the vast array of complex behaviors we observe continues to elude us. In my lab, we study groups of closely-related species with extensive natural variation in social behavior. We combine genetic studies with field and laboratory observations to dissect the molecular and physiological mechanisms that underlie this variation as well as to uncover the ecological and evolutionary forces that shape the evolution of this trait. This integrative approach is a powerful one: genetic and genomic studies within and across species can help to elucidate some of the underlying molecular mechanisms, while controlled environmental manipulations and behavioral studies can help identify key environmental factors that influence this variation. One major area of research in my group is characterizing the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary processes that link genetic variation to variation in social behavior in halictid bees. Unlike honey bees and ants where all species are obligately eusocial, there have been multiple, independent gains and losses of social behavior within halictid bees, providing unprecedented comparative power to study the mechanisms and processes shaping social evolution. Google Scholar Selected Publications Wittwer, Bernadette, Abraham Hefetz, Tovit Simon, Li Murphy, Mark Elgar, Naomi Pierce, and Sarah Kocher. (2017) 2017. “Solitary Bees Reduce Investment in Communication Compared With Their Social Relatives.”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114 (25): 6569-74. doi:10.1073/pnas.1620780114. Galbraith, David A, Sarah D Kocher, Tom Glenn, Istvan Albert, Greg J Hunt, Joan E Strassmann, David C Queller, and Christina M Grozinger. (2016) 2016. “Testing the Kinship Theory of Intragenomic Conflict in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera).”. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113 (4): 1020-5. doi:10.1073/pnas.1516636113. Kocher, Sarah D, Jennifer M Tsuruda, Joshua D Gibson, Christine M Emore, Miguel E Arechavaleta-Velasco, David C Queller, Joan E Strassmann, et al. (2015) 2015. “A Search for Parent-of-Origin Effects on Honey Bee Gene Expression.”. G3 (Bethesda) 5 (8): 1657-62. doi:10.1534/g3.115.017814. Fu, Feng, Sarah Kocher, and Martin Nowak. (2015) 2015. “The Risk-Return Trade-off Between Solitary and Eusocial Reproduction.”. Ecology Letters 18 (1): 74-84. doi:10.1111/ele.12392. Kocher, Sarah, Loïc Pellissier, Carl Veller, Jessica Purcell, Martin Nowak, Michel Chapuisat, and Naomi Pierce. (2014) 2014. “Transitions in Social Complexity Along Elevational Gradients Reveal a Combined Impact of Season Length and Development Time on Social Evolution.”. Proceedings. Biological Sciences 281 (1787). doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0627. Kocher, Sarah, Cai Li, Wei Yang, Hao Tan, Soojin Yi V, Xingyu Yang, Hopi Hoekstra, Guojie Zhang, Naomi Pierce, and Douglas Yu. (2013) 2013. “The Draft Genome of a Socially Polymorphic Halictid Bee, Lasioglossum Albipes.”. Genome Biology 14 (12): R142. doi:10.1186/gb-2013-14-12-r142. Wang, Ying, Sarah Kocher, Timothy Linksvayer, Christina Grozinger, Robert Page, and Gro Amdam V. (2012) 2012. “Regulation of Behaviorally Associated Gene Networks in Worker Honey Bee Ovaries.”. The Journal of Experimental Biology 215 (Pt 1): 124-34. doi:10.1242/jeb.060889. Kocher, Sarah D, Julien Ayroles, Eric A Stone, and Christina M Grozinger. 2010. “Individual Variation in Pheromone Response Correlates With Reproductive Traits and Brain Gene Expression in Worker Honey Bees.”. PLoS One 5 (2): e9116. Related News Ecologist Sarah Kocher wins an inaugural Freeman Hrabowski award from Howard Hughes Medical InstituteBumblebees kept in isolation make up for it by being more social laterSarah Kocher receives Packard Foundation fellowship for early-career scientists for her ‘social brain’ research with beesKocher receives NIH Director's New Innovator AwardBee social or buzz off: Study, led by Sarah Kocher, links genes to social behaviors, including autism Program(s) NIH NHGRI Training Program QCB Graduate Program Research Area Evolutionary and Population Genomics Experimental Genomics LSI Research Lab Kocher Research Lab