PostDoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics FY2006

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--- Project Title: "Identifying cis-acting binding sites for the dosage compensation machinery on the Drosophila X-chromosome" This project is awarded under the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biological Informatics Program for 2006. The research will apply tools from comparative genomics / population genetics / bioinformatics, to recently available gene expression studies, new complete genome sequences, and high-resolution microarrays to identify binding regions and molecularly characterize binding sites for the dosage compensation of X-linked genes in male Drosophila. This study will reveal the molecular nature of these binding sites, to what extent these sites are degenerate and whether they are used in a combinatorial manner. The process by which dosage compensation occurs is fundamental to understanding the evolution of sexual reproduction itself. By describing the mechanisms of dosage compensation we anticipate that our results will have important implications for our knowledge of how eukaryotic organisms have developed different chromosomal constitutions between the two sexes. More generally, this research is applicable to the understanding of the evolution of gene regulation, and the importance of gene dosage in creating complex phenotypes (i.e., sex determination). The fellow will work with Peter Andolfatto and Doris Bachtrog at the University of California at San Diego where he will interact with UCSD students and foster partnerships between computational and empirical groups as well as functional and evolutionary labs. Training will include existing software tools, database design for binding sites, and development of computer code to implement new approaches that will be made publicly available.