UPDATE Feb 2012: I will shortly be advertising for a 3 year postdoc to study reproductive mode and genome evolution. Please see Research Openings page. Root Knot Nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne are some of the world’s most important crop pathogens. The genus contains a wide range of reproductive modes, with repeated transitions between some reproductive modes. This raises interesting possibilities to investigate the genomic consequences of the loss of meiotic recombination. I recently showed using DNA sequencing that several mitotic parthenogen species are the result of an interspecific hybridization event, and I am now investigating the genomes of parent (meiotic) and offspring (ameiotic) species.
