Evolutionary developmental biology and reproduction
We study the genetic pathway leading to male and female development. The focus is to understand what is happening at the transcript level in terms of splicing events and differential expression.
“How do genes drive the development of insects towards male or female?”
Important genes in this pathway are Doublesex (DSX) and Transformer (TRA). How these genes exactly make the switch between the male or female developmental pathway is one of our focal points .In addtion, we study the mechanisms by which endosymbionts can induce asexual reproduction in their host. For biocontrol purposes having a lot of females is advantageous, so we study how we can steer the parasitoids to produce as many female offspring as possible.
Topics
• Molecular basis of sex determination.
• Molecular pathways involved in sexual differentiation.
• Endosymbionts manipulating sex determination
• Manipulation sex rations for biocontrol
Projects
NWO Vidi grant
NWO Vidi grant (€ 800.000) for research on 'How do differences between males and females evolve?
NWO Vidi grant
NWO Vidi grant (€ 800.000) for research on 'How do differences between males and females evolve?
Contact us
Research themes
Entomology
Entomology, led by Bregje Wertheim, works on the physiology of insect-plant interactions and the ecology of parasite-host and predator-prey interactions.