Fishes from various aquatic habitats, such as deep sea or rivers, experience different and sometimes extreme environmental conditions. In evolution, adaptation is often realized by gene duplications or losses, gene modifications, or by alternation of the gene expression. The proposed PhD project is focused on hemoglobin genes in the selected species of the deep-sea fishes, and riverine cyprinids. The core approach will be on genomics and transcriptomics and we aim to identify hemoglobin genes in the whole genomes, focus on their function (by the gene expression) followed by further functional in-vitro approach. Our research group has experience with similar approach on different groups of genes, such as opsins, or olfactory receptors and possible expansion into these gene families is also possible. We search for a PhD candidate motivated to work in an international research team. We also seek for a candidate with certain level of independence and willingness to learn new approaches. Previous experience with (basic) bioinformatic analyses of the genomic data is beneficial but not required.

 

Five relevant publications of the research group:

 

Lupše, N., Cortesi, F., Freese, M., Marohn, L., Pohlman, J. D., Wysujack, K., … & Musilova, Z. (2022). Visual gene expression reveals a cone to rod developmental progression in deep-sea fishes. Molecular Biology and Evolution (accepted for January 2022).

 

Musilova, Z., Cortesi, F., Matschiner, M., Davies, W. I., Patel, J. S., Stieb, S. M., … & Salzburger, W. (2019). Vision using multiple distinct rod opsins in deep-sea fishes. Science, 364(6440), 588-592.

 

Musilova, Z., Salzburger, W., & Cortesi, F. (2021). The Visual Opsin Gene Repertoires of Teleost Fishes: Evolution, Ecology, and Function. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 37.

 

Musilova, Z., Indermaur, A., Bitja-Nyom, A.R., Omelchenko, D., Kłodawska, M., Albergati, L., Remišová, K. & Salzburger, W. (2019). Evolution of Visual Sensory System in Cichlid Fishes from Crater Lake Barombi Mbo in Cameroon. Molecular Ecology28 (23), 5010-5031.

Adrian-Kalchhauser, I., Blomberg, A., Larsson, T., Musilova, Z., Peart, C. R., Pippel, M., Solbakken, M. H., Suurväli, J., Walser, JC, Wilson, J. Y., Rosenblad, M. A., Burguera, D., Gutnik, S., Michiels, N., Töpel, M., Pankov, K., Schloissnig, S. & Winkler, S. (2020). The round goby genome provides insights into mechanisms that may facilitate biological invasions. BMC Biology, 18(1), 1-33.

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