Program

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011

4:00- 6:00 Registration – Conference Center

6:00 – Welcome

6:30 – 8:30 Social Mixing and Dinner


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2011


MORNING SESSION 1: LIFE CYCLE (Chair: Annette Coleman)

8:30 – 8:45 Introduction

8:45 – 9:10 Deborah Shelton (University of Arizona)
Colonial reproduction and cell cycle regulation in volvocine algae

9:10 – 9:35 Takashi Hamaji (Kyoto University)
Mating type locus of Gonium pectorale

9:35 – 10:00 Rintaro Hiraide (University of Tokyo)
Mat3 divergence after the evolution of anisogamy in the colonial volvocales

10:00 – 10:30 Break

MORNING SESSION 2: DEVELOPMENT AND CELL DIFFERENTIATION (Chair: Stephen Miller)

10:30 – 10:45 Introduction

10:45 – 11:10 Alicia D. Howard (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
Establishment of a Volvox chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) platform to analyze the function of the master cell-fate determination regulator RegA

11:10 – 11:35 Arash Kianianmomeni (Humboldt-University of Berlin)
Light receptors of Volvox carteri

11:35 – 12:00 Oana Marcu (NASA Ames Research Center & SETI Institute)
Elemental mapping of Volvox during oxidative stress

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch

AFTERNOON SESSION 1: THE PHYSICS OF BEING MULTICELLULAR (Chair: John Kessler)

1:30 – 1:55 John O. Kessler (University of Arizona)
Why motility?

1:55 – 2:20 Knut Drescher (University of Cambridge & Princeton Univ)
The fidelity of phototaxis in Volvox carteri

2:20 – 2:45 Cristian A. Solari (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
A general allometric and life-history model for the transition to multicellularity and cellular differentiation

2:45 – 3:15 Break

AFTERNOON SESSION 2: EVOLUTION (Chair: Matthew Herron)

3:15 – 3:40 Aurora M. Nedelcu (University of New Brunswick)
Evo-Volvo: Using the volvocine algae to address evolutionary questions

3:40 – 4:05 Sergey Gavrilets (University of Tennessee)
Rapid transition towards the division of labor via evolution of developmental plasticity

4:05 – 4:30 Matthew D. Herron (University of Arizona, University of British Columbia)
Complexity and individuality in the volvocine algae

EVENING SESSION: POSTER SESSION (5:00 - 6:30)

Stephanie Hoehn (Bielefeld University)
Embryonic inversion in volvocine algae

Aurelia R. Honerkamp-Smith (University of Cambridge)
Mechanical aspects of inversion in Volvox carteri

Noriko Ueki (University of Bielefeld)
Phototaxis in the multicellular green alga Volvox

Jose Ortega (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
Analysis of VARL domain equivalency among the RegA-group VARL proteins.

V. J. Galzenati (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
Abundance variation of Volvocales in response to temperature change

Alexandra Y. Harryman (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
Developmental response of V. carteri to nutrient deprivation

6:30 – 8:30 DINNER

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

MORNING SESSION 1: GENOMICS (Chair: Bradley JSC Olson)

8:30 – 8:55 Simon Prochnik (DOE Joint Genome Institute)
The Volvox genome provides insights into evolutionary strategies for evolving complexity

8:55 – 9:20 Bradley J.S.C. Olson (Kansas State University)
The Volvocales Genome Project

9:20 – 9:45 David Roy Smith (University of British Columbia)
Volvocalean organelle genome evolution

9:45 – 10:10 Sa Geng (Donald Danforth Plant Science Center)
Next generation transcriptome sequencing provides insights into the genetic control program for sexual differentiation in Volvox carteri

10:10 – 10:30 Break

MORNING SESSION 2: MOLECULAR AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS (Chair: James Umen)

10:30 – 10:55 James Umen (Donald Danforth Plant Science Center)
The population genetics of MT: resolving the divergence paradox between Chlamydomonas and Volvox MT genes

10:55 – 11:20 Patrick Ferris (University of Arizona)
Elucidating the origins of the regA gene

11:20 – 11:45 Erik R. Hanschen (University of Arizona)
Evolution of the VARL gene family and germ/soma differentiation in the volvocine algae

11:45 – 12:10 Stephan G. Koenig (University of New Brunswick)
New insights into the regulation of regA expression in Volvox carteri

12:10 – 1:30 Lunch

AFTERNOON SESSION 1: WORKSHOP

1:30 – 4:00 Genome data analysis – approaches and challenges (Chair: Simon Prochnik)

1. The new Volvox (v2) and Chlamydomonas (v5) genome assemblies
2. Improved gene models with deep sequencing of mRNAs
3. Mapping existing gene names, deflines and descriptions to new annotations
4. The Phytozome Portal I: browsing gene models and supporting evidence; searching and analysis

2:30 - 2:45 Break

    5. Phytozome II: tour of comparative plant and algal genomics tools at the Phytozome portal
   
    6. Working with comparative genomics data to generate candidate gene lists and validate them experimentally

     7. Future comparative genomics possibilities from the Volvocales genomes

4:00 – 4:15 Break

AFTERNOON SESSION 2: TAXONOMY AND PHYLOGENY (Chair: Hisayoshi Nozaki)

4:15 – 4:40 Hisayoshi Nozaki (University of Tokyo)
New volvocacean algae progressively identified

4:40 – 5:05 Y. Yang (University of Tokyo)
Cryptic non-green endosymbiosis in the secondary photosynthetic eukaryotes, Chlorarachniophyta, based on extended phylogenetic analyses

EVENING SESSION

5:30 – 6:30 Movie and trivia night – Movies featuring volvocine algae

6:30 – 9:00 Banquet

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2011

Tour of Biosphere 2

Round Table: Volvox in the future (Discussion on ways to strengthen the Volvox community; establishing common resources – culture collection, genetic resources; student exchange programs; next Volvox meeting)

Free Discussion

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

2pm – Conference ends