DISSERTATION RESEARCH: An evolutionary genetic analysis of a Y chromosome rearrangement in Drosophila pseudoobscura

最近的发现发现了许多男性生育所必需的基因在他们的基因组中移动的例子。一个典型的例子是果蝇，在大多数果蝇物种中，Y染色体上的雄性生育因子已经转移到了一个小的无性染色体上。这一发现令人震惊，因为男性相关基因通常会移到Y染色体上，而不是远离Y染色体。建议的分析将使用最新的DNA测序技术、计算机模拟和建模技术来阐明这种基因运动所涉及的结构变化。该项目始于与巴西里约热内卢联邦大学教职员工贝尔纳多·卡瓦略博士的合作。他每年继续访问两周，有时会从他的实验室带一名学生来，所以目前的提议可以被视为另一项积极的国际合作的辅助。这项研究是阿曼达·拉拉库恩特博士论文的核心，该领域之前的研究已经为该实验室的几名本科生提供了培训和教育经验，包括贝琳达·哈勒姆和伊丽莎白·拉里莫尔。男性不育症是一种常见的遗传疾病，对这一水平的模型系统的研究提供了为什么人群保持观察到的Y连锁男性不育水平的线索。

Recent findings identify many instances in which genes necessary for male fertility have moved around in their genomes. An exemplary case of this is in the fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura, where the male fertility factors that are on the Y chromosome in most fruit fly species have translocated to a small non-sex chromosome. This finding is striking since male-related genes usually move onto rather than away from the Y chromosome. The analysis proposed will use the latest DNA sequencing technology, computer simulations and modeling techniques to elucidate the structural changes involved in this gene movement. This project began as a collaboration with Dr. Bernardo Carvalho, a faculty member of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He continues to visit for two weeks each year, sometimes bringing a student from his lab, so the current proposal can be considered as ancillary to another positive international collaboration. The study is central to Amanda Larracuente's Ph.D. thesis, and the prior studies in the area have already provided training and educational experiences for several undergraduates in the lab, including Belinda Haerum and Elizabeth Larimore. Male infertility is a common genetic disorder, and studies of model systems at this level provide clues as to why populations maintain observed levels of Y-linked male sterility.