Origin and Evolution of Mammalian Dosage Compensation

Studying both closely (human and mouse) and distantly (humans and marsupials/ monotremes) related species has revealed a great deal of insight about sex chromosome evolution. However, outside of human and mouse relatively little is known about perhaps the most interesting aspect of sex chromosomes: dosage compensation. I will investigate the activity status of sex-linked genes and the molecular mechanisms of X-chromosome inactivation in phylogenetically important species (particularly Australian and African mammals) to unravel the mysterious evolution of mammalian dosage compensation.