Corey Allard, Ph.D.

Research

My lab will explore how some sea slugs turn to thievery to gain new abilities. Acquiring novel traits is a fundamental feature of evolution, but several lineages of sea slugs adopt an unusual approach to the problem, electing to swipe subcellular structures from their prey. One slug is able to carry out photosynthesis using chloroplasts it captures from algae and incorporates into its own cells; the other steals stinging organelles from anemones and uses them for its own self-defense. We have found that both slug species tuck their co-opted treasures into specialized organellar compartments called kleptosomes. Now, using cutting-edge methods in cell and molecular genetics, biochemistry, and functional imaging, we will identify the ion channels, transporters, receptors, and other molecular machinery that allow sea slugs to select the target structures and sustain their operation inside their cells, and we will determine how these foreign cargos become integrated into the sea slug’s physiology. Our work will illuminate a novel form of evolutionary innovation that could lead to new approaches for engineering cells with enhanced metabolic or defensive capabilities.