Selfish Sex Chromosomes in Drosophila
April 27 at 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Free
The Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science presents this talk as part of the Department of Biology Seminar Series.
About the talk
Selfish genetic elements bend the rules of Mendelian inheritance to increase their own transmission—often at a cost to the organism. Although widespread and evolutionarily significant, these elements have historically been difficult to study because they can be hidden within genomes.
Some of the most striking examples are selfish X chromosomes that distort meiosis. Found in insects, plants, and rodents, these chromosomes bias inheritance by sabotaging Y-bearing sperm, causing males to produce mostly daughters.
In this seminar, Dr. Steve Perlman will share his research on the evolution, genetics, genomics and ecology of a selfish X chromosome in a common woodland fly, Drosophila testacea. A surprising discovery from this work is that this chromosome also cheats meiosis in females—an unexpected finding given the fundamental differences between male and female meiosis across animals and plants.
Speaker
Dr. Steve Perlman
Professor, Department of Biology
University of Victoria
