Dr D Filatov
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
Males and females differ significantly in their appearance, behaviour and physiology. This is more surprising than it may seem as the two sexes share almost identical sets of genes. How long does it take to evolve gender differences when a species switches from ancestral hermaphroditic state to separate sexes? What happens at the genomic level when such transition occurs? In particular, how do sex-determining regions on nascent sex chromosome evolve? Scientifically, these pivotal questions are hard to address because evolutionary transition to separate sexes in animals had occurred too long ago and large phylogenetic groups, such a mammals or insects, are fixed for this trait. Plants, on the other hand, show a bewildering diversity of mating systems, ranging from hermaphrodites to separate sexes (dioecy) and various intermediate conditions. This diversity of plant mating systems offers research opportunities unmatched in the animal kingdom. For example, some plants feature more than one mating system (e.g. dioecy and hermaphroditism) in the same species, offering an exciting opportunity to study genetic bases and evolution of mating systems ‘in making’. This project will take advantage of this incredible diversity of plant mating systems to shed light on the genetic bases and evolutionary consequences of transitions to separate sexes.
STUDENT PROFILE
We are seeking a highly motivated student with strong interest in evolutionary biology and, ideally, some experience in evolutionary genetics. As the project will involve significant amount of high-throughput sequence data analysis, strong computational skills, including some programming experience, will be essential for this project.
Funding Notes
There are two main routes into the Department of Plant Sciences Graduate Programme dictated by different funding mechanisms: If, after discussion with a potential supervisor, you decide that one of these programmes is right for you, you will need to apply directly to the relevant programme or scholarship.
Fully funded studentships/scholarships are available via linked Doctoral Training centres/Partnerships, directly via departmental project opportunities, or via competitive scholarships. Please use the University's Fees, Funding and Scholarship search tool to identify the funding options available to you: http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/fees-funding/search/graduate
References
Papadopulos AS, Chester M, Ridout K, & Filatov DA (2015) Rapid Y degeneration and dosage compensation in plant sex chromosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112(42):13021-13026.
Filatov DA (2015) Homomorphic plant sex chromosomes are coming of age. Molecular Ecology 24(13):3217-3219
Chibalina MV & Filatov DA (2011) Plant Y chromosome degeneration is retarded by haploid purifying selection. Current Biology 21(17):1475-1479.
Armstrong, S.J & Filatov, D.A. (2008) A cytogenetic view of sex chromosome evolution in plants. Cytogenetic and Genome Research. 120: 241-246.
Filatov DA (2005) Evolutionary history of Silene latifolia sex chromosomes revealed by genetic mapping of four genes. Genetics 170(2):975-979.
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