US-AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIES JOINT WORKSHOP

US-AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIES JOINT WORKSHOP ON VERTEBRATE COMPARATIVE GENOMICS
Beckman Conference Centre, Irvine, California, 23-25 May 2007

The dynamic centromere of marsupials
by Rachael O’Neill

Professor O’Neill received her PhD in Genetics from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia in 1997. She has since held postdoctoral positions at the University of Melbourne, Princeton University and Rutgers University. She has been a member of the faculty at UCONN since 1999 and has been a member of the Center for Applied Genetics and Technology at UCONN since 2005. Her interests include centromere biology, retroelement evolution and function, developmental genetics, genomic imprinting, chromosome evolution and speciation.

Studies of chromosome evolution have focused heavily on the evolution of conserved syntenic, gene-rich domains. It is obvious, however, that the centromere plays an equally important role in chromosome evolution, through its involvement in fissions, centric fusions, translocations, inversions and centric shifts. It is unclear how the centromere, either as a functioning unit of the chromosome or as a DNA sequence motif, has been involved in these processes. Macropodine marsupials (kangaroos and wallabies) offer unique insights into current theories expositing centromere emergence during karyotypic diversification and speciation. Tracing the phylogenetic distribution of centromeric sequences, including tandem repeats and retroelements, within this group of mammals indicates these sequences have played an important role in chromosome evolution through amplifications, segmental duplications, fissions and fusions. Hybrids between different kangaroo species provide evidence that the centromere is unstable within this group of mammals and is involved in a large number of chromosome aberrations, including the appearance of knobs. A better understanding of the genetic and epigenetic factors that define centromeres and how centromeres may mediate changes in chromosome architecture are critical not only to our understanding of basic cellular functioning but also to our understanding of the process of speciation.

Contact details:
Associate Professor, Genetics and Genomics
Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, U-2131
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269

Tel: 860-486-6031
Fax: 860-486-1936
Email: rachel.oneill@uconn.edu