Sex Chromosomes, Sex Determination & Reproductive Biology in Egg-laying Mammals

Monotremes (platypuses and echidnas) are extraordinary mammals, and represent the most basal surviving mammalian lineage and feature an enigmatic mix of bird-like and mammalian characteristics.

We have been working on monotreme chromosomes and genes for nearly ten years. Highlights include the description of the ten sex chromosomes in platypus (Grutzner et al. 2004, Rens et al. 2004) and publication of the platypus whole genome sequence (Warren et al. 2008). We are using our unique tissue collection (Monotreme Resource Centre), expertise and the new genome information to investigate how monotremes determine sex and how they organise their sex chromosomes at meiosis. In addition we aim to use genomic information for conservation and field biology. For example we investigate reproductive biology and ecology of a wild echidna population at Monarto Zoo and the molecular basis of the lethal platypus fungal disease.

In order to foster interdisciplinary research on monotremes we organised a Boden Research Conference in 2008 "beyond the platypus genome" where we had over 60 national and international leaders in monotreme biology and genomics to discuss the future significance of this unique Australian species for comparative genomics and the need to combine molecular and field based approaches to gain insights into their fascinating biology and to help conservation of this iconic species (articles published in two special issues of Australian Journal of Zoology and Reproduction, Fertility and Development).

Major Projects

1. Sex determination in mammals
2. Meiotic organisation of the monotreme sex chromosome complex
3. Echidna Reproductive biology and Ecology at Monarto Zoo
4. Molecular basis of platypus fungal disease