Postdoc (M/F) in molecular biology and biochemistry

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description The EVOGEN team ( https://www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/equipe-intragenomic-conflict-and-evolu… ) is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to participate in a project aimed at elucidating the role of a heterochromatin protein during Drosophila spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis is a complex biological process essential for species survival. One intriguing phenomenon that disrupts this process is sex-ratio (SR) meiotic drive, which alters normal inheritance patterns to bias offspring sex ratios. This mechanism, found in various organisms, manipulates sex chromosome segregation during meiosis, yet its molecular basis remains largely unknown. We study an X-linked (XSR) meiotic drive system, known as the Paris sex-ratio (SR) system, in D. simulans. In males carrying the XSR chromosome, we observe non-disjunction of the sister chromatids of the Y chromosome during meiosis II, resulting in defective spermatids that fail to produce functional sperm. Consequently, XSR carrying males produce strongly female-biased progeny (>90%). The drive is associated with a dysfunctional allele of HP1D2. HP1D2 exhibits three notable features: (1) It belongs to the Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1) family, involved in heterochromatin regulation; (2) it originated from a duplication of the autosomal HP1D/Rhino gene; (3) HP1D2 is expressed in spermatogonia and binds the Y chromosome. The goal of this pro