Organization, function and evolution of marsupial Y chromosomes

The mammal Y chromosome is uniquely gene poor, and specialized for male sex and reproduction, raising fundamental questions about its evolution from an ordinary autosome, and its eventual disappearance in 10 million years. Comparative sequencing of mammal Ys lags far behind the X and autosomes, because whole shotgun sequencing is impossible. I shall take advantage of the ancient divergence of marsupials from placental mammals to answer fundamental questions about the role of mutation, selection and drift in the evolution of the mammalian Y. Using an innovative new technique I will isolate, map and sequence large insert clones and expressed genes from the Y of three marsupial species, and investigate their expression patterns.