William C. Black, IV
Professor

Phone: 491-1081
Fax: 491-1815
Email: William.Black@colostate.edu
Office: B416 Microbiology Building

 

Degrees

• B.A., Grinnell College
• M.S., Duke University
• Ph.D., Iowa State University

Research Interests

Medical Entomology, Molecular Systematics of Vectors and Pathogens

• We are using molecular genetic markers to map genes in the mosquito Aedes aegypti that condition dengue virus susceptibility and genes in the mosquito Aedes albopictus that control transovariole transmission of LaCrosse encephalitis virus. We have also been developing cDNA markers and the theoretical basis for performing population genomics analyses in A. aegypti. The power of population genomics is that variation at a single locus or potentially even single nucleotide substitutions at that locus, can be compared with variation at other closely linked loci or at loci distributed throughout a genome to differentiate locus-specific and locus-invariant effects. We hope to use this theory to identify genes and nucleotide substitution that confer midgut susceptibility of A. aegypti to the dengue virus.
• PGenome website

Selected Publications

Pub Med for Black WC 4th.

• Graham D.H., J.L. Holmes, and W.C. Black IV. 2004. Identification Of Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Sex Determination In The Eastern Treehole Mosquito, Ochlerotatus triseriatus. Journal of Heredity 95: 36-46.
• Black W.C. IV. 2004. Learning to use Ochlerotatus is just the beginning. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 20:215-216.
• Root , J. J., W. C. Black IV, C. H. Calisher, K. R. Wilson And B.J. Beaty. 2004. Genetic Relatedness of Deer Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) Infected with Sin Nombre Virus. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 4: 149-157.
• Ullmann, A. J., J. F. Piesman, M. C. Dolan and W. C. Black IV. (2003). A preliminary linkage map of the hard tick, Ixodes scapularis. Insect Molecular Biology 12: 201-210.
• Gorrochotegui-Escalante, N. and W. C. Black IV. (2003). Amplifying whole insect genomes with multiple displacement amplification. Insect Molecular Biology 12: 195-200.
• Molina-Cruz, A., A. M. P. De Merida, K. Mills , F. Rodriguez , C. Schoua , M.M. Yurrita, E. Molina , M. Palmieri and W.C. Black IV. 2004. Gene Flow Among Anopheles albimanus Populations In Central America, South America And The Caribbean Assessed By Microsatellites And Mitochondrial DNA. American Journal Of Tropical Medicine And Hygiene (In Press).
• Gomez-Machorro, C. K. E. Bennett, M. L. Munoz,W. C. Black IV. 2004. Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Dengue Midgut Infection Barriers in an Advanced Intercross Line of Aedes aegypti. Insect Molecular Biology (In Press).