DPhil. Student

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Alison Wright

Alison Wright

Details

Name: Alison Wright
Position: DPhil. Student
Email: alison.wright@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Autobiography

I graduated from Oxford University in 2010 with a first class degree in Biological Sciences. As part of my undergraduate degree I conducted a research project, under the supervision of Judith Mank, characterising the coding content of the chicken sex chromosomes. This fuelled my fascination for understanding the effects of evolutionary forces at the genetic level, in particular in relation to sexual dimorphism. I thus started a DPhil in 2010 with Judith Mank, investigating the expression of the chicken W chromosome and its role in the evolution of female phenotypes.

Research Activities

I am interested in investigating the genetic basis of sexual dimorphism and understanding how selection shapes the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Sex chromosomes provide a fascinating opportunity to examine these questions as they differ between the sexes and are therefore predicted to play an important role in facilitating sexual dimorphism and sexual antagonism. Most studies of this type are carried out on male heterogametic species, such as mammals; however female heterogametic species, such as birds, offer a useful contrast because of their reversed pattern of sex chromosome inheritance. Additionally, chickens are a perfect model system as breeding practises have produced breeds selected for sex specific traits and a range of sexual dimorphism. I am currently using next generation gene expression data and coding variation to identify W linked genes involved in female fitness in 6 chicken breeds with the aim of expanding this eventually to include several additional bird species.

I am also fascinated by the evolution of the sex chromosomes themselves as they follow a completely different evolutionary trajectory to autosomes. Specifically, I am interested in the evolution of dosage compensation which was traditionally thought to accompany the degeneration of the heterogametic sex chromosome. However, recent data challenges this view and I am aiming to explore the selective pressures necessary for dosage compensation to evolve using modelling.

Selected Recent Papers

Bonsall MB, and AE Wright (2012) Altruism and the evolution of resource generalism and specialism. Ecology and Evolution | Read paper online

Harrison PW* , AE Wright* , and JE Mank (2012) The evolution of gene expression and the transcriptome-phenotype relationship. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology (* Joint first authors) | Read paper online