Evolutionary Genetics - EG

Miguel P. Machado

PhD Student

Freshwater fish Hybridization Polyploidy Sex determination and differentiation

Miguel P. Machado is conducting a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology by the University of Lisbon starting in 2011 within the Evolutionary Genetics research group of cE3c. He is conducting the project “Sex determination and differentiation in cyprinids: the case study of Iberian species and the puzzling sex bias in Squalius alburnoides complex”, under the supervision of Maria M. Coelho (Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal) and Manfred Schartl (Department Physiological Chemistry, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, and Comprehensive Cancer Center Mainfranken, University Clinic Würzburg, 97078 Würzburg, Germany). Miguel P. Machado project aims are:

• The assessment of the development stage in which gonads start differentiating.
• The characterization of gene expression in sexual determination/differentiation cascade with high throughput sequencing technologies.
• Trying to understand how the expression levels of each allele in certain genes could be influencing sexual mechanisms.
• Together, all this information will provide a greater picture about the role of interacting players in these variable mechanisms.