Associate Professor Ph.D. (2011) University of Wisconsin, Madison Research Interests - We are interested in understanding how sex chromosomes have repeatedly evolved across the tree of life. We use stickleback fish as a model system to explore the evolutionary forces that shape sex chromosomes at the earliest stages of evolution. We combine classical genetics, molecular genetics, and bioinformatic approaches to understand key processes in the formation of sex chromosomes, including the regulation of meiotic recombination and the genetics of sex determination. Current Grant Support - NSF EDGE: "Expanding the toolkit for functional genetics in threespine stickleback to place genomics into its natural context." NSF CAREER: "Meiotic double strand break repair on sex chromosomes." Research Research Areas: Genomics and Bioinformatics Evolutionary Genetics Developmental Biology Molecular Genetics Selected Publications Selected Publications: Peichel CL, McCann SR, Ross JA, Naftaly AFS, Urton JR, Cech JN, Grimwood J, Schmutz J, Myers RM, Kingsley DM, White MA. 2020. Assembly of the threespine stickleback Y chromosome reveals convergent signatures of sex chromosome evolution. Genome Biology. 21: 177. Shanfelter AF, Archambeault SL, White MA. 2019. Divergent fine-scale recombination landscapes between a freshwater and marine population of threespine stickleback fish. Genome Biology and Evolution. 11: 1552-1572. Peichel CL, Sullivan ST, Liachko I, White MA. 2017. Improvement of the threespine stickleback genome using a Hi-C-based proximity-guided assembly. Journal of Heredity. 108: 693-700. White MA, Kitano J, Peichel CL. 2015. Purifying selection maintains dosage-sensitive genes during degeneration of the threespine stickleback Y chromosome. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 32: 1981-1995.
