Jullien Flynn, PhD
Assistant professor, Université Laval
research axis 3
Address
- 581-922-7679
- jullien.flynn@bio.ulaval.ca
- https://www.fsg.ulaval.ca/en/faculty-members/jullien-flynn
- Université Laval, Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Pavillon Charles-Eugène-Marchand, 1030 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC, G1V0A6
Research interests
Eukaryotic genomes are filled with tandem repeats that form long arrays, known as satellite DNA, which currently have no well-understood functions. The research in my laboratory aims to understand the functional impact of satellite DNA activities on male and female reproduction, using Drosophila as a model organism. Particularly, we have three main goals. First, we are interested in how instability of satellite DNA located near the centromere of chromosomes could contribute to chromosome segregation errors. We have developed a system that will allow us to determine factors at the DNA sequence and protein-binding level that cause varying rates of nondisjunction in Drosophila meiosis. Second, we are interested in how repeats present in the introns of fertility genes affects their expression in sperm development. Here we study two closely related species that have a 3-fold difference in the size of the Y chromosome, caused by the expansion of a single repeat family. Finally, we are interested in the evolution and possible functions of long noncoding RNAs produced from satellite DNA that are expressed in the germline.