We have previously found empirical evidence for antagonistic coevolution between the sex chromosomes in Drosophila melanogaster (see Lund-Hansen et al 2021, https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2003359118) and are now interested in determining how expression is altered in males with mis-matched sex chromosomes. To investigate the antagonistic coevolution between the sex chromosomes, we carried out a round robin crossing scheme, where we swapped either the X or the Y chromosome between five populations of D. melanogaster stemming from different places in the world. This meant that males could have matching autosomes and Y chromosome with a mismatched X, or matching autosomes and X chromosome with a mismatched Y. For this specific experiment we picked eight of the novel genotypes, which have previously been shown to exhibit phenotypic differences, as well as their corresponding wild type populations for RNA pooled sequencing. We are interested in investigating: 1. which genes might be responsible for the phenotypic differences we previously observed, and 2. if the same mismatched X-Y pair results in different patterns of expression depending on the autosomal background.
We are looking for a student with bioinformatic skills, who also have good understanding and interest in evolutionary processes.
Contact: Katrine Lund-Hansen, Katrine.Lund-Hansen@biol.lu.se
Credits: 15 or 30
Start time: Spring 2024