peopleHeather Simmons
Graduate Student
Email: hes142@psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-4705
Fax: 814-865-9131
Office: 316 Mueller Laboratory
Research
I am interested in evolution of RNA viruses, specifically, how vectors affect the evolutionary dynamics of RNA viruses with respect to transmission. I am currently working with the RNA virus ZYMV (Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus), which is a non-persistent, aphid-transmitted disease that infects a wild gourd (Curcurbita pepo ssp. texana). I am investigating:
- Evolutionary changes in the capsid protein that occur within a host plant over the course of infection
- The diversity and nature of the evolutionary changes that can survive transmission via aphid vectors to new hosts of the same species
- Differences in the evolutionary trajectory of the capsid protein across host species and across aphid vectors