EMBO Associate Member
A. Bernardo Carvalho
EMBO 2018
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Evolutionary genomics of Drosophila Y chromosomes
My lab works on the identification of Y-linked genes, and on the evolution of gene content of the Y-chromosomes of a large number of Drosophila species. As Drosophila Y-chromosomes are composed mostly of repetitive DNA, which causes severe assembly problems, we are developing methods to improve genome assembly. Unexpectedly for Y chromosomes, we found that the Drosophila Y is on average gaining genes, instead of losing them.
Keywords
Y chromosome / evolution / genomics / Drosophila / chromosome fusion / heterochromatin / repetitive DNA / PacBio