Professor Neil Gemmell
AgResearch Chair and Director of the Centre for Reproduction and Genomics
Neil is the AgResearch Chair in Reproduction and Genomics at the University of Otago and the inaugural Director of the Centre for Reproduction and Genomics. He leads a research group that blends ecology, population, conservation and evolutionary biology with recent technological spin-offs from the various genome projects.
A recurring theme in his research is that of reproduction, with past and current projects spanning mating systems and mate choice, sperm function, sex determination, sex allocation, and inter-sexual genomic conflict. Neil also has interests in several congruent fields of research, particularly the evolution of the mitochondrial genome, the evolution of microsatellite DNA, the evolution of sex determining mechanisms and the processes that lead to speciation.
For more information on Neil and the Centre for Reproduction and Genomics see: http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/ and http://www.crg.org.nz/
Teaching
Neil teaches in GENE 360 Special Topics in Genetics and GENE 411 Current Topics in Genetics.
Recent Publications
Horn, T., Gemmell, N.J., Robertson, B.C. & Bridges, C.R. Telomere length change in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Australian Journal of Zoology 56, 207-210 (2008).
Merkel, A. & Gemmell, N. Detecting short tandem repeats from genome data: opening the software black box. Briefings in Bioinformatics 9, 355-366 (2008).
Rosengrave, P., Gemmell, N.J., Metcalf, V., McBride, K. & Montgomerie, R. A mechanism for cryptic female choice in chinook salmon. Behavioral Ecology 19, 1179-1185 (2008).
White, D.J., Wolff, J.N., Pierson, M. & Gemmell, N.J. Revealing the hidden complexities of mtDNA inheritance. Molecular Ecology 17, 4925-4942 (2008).
Abdelkrim, J. Robertson, B.C., Stanton, J.L. and Gemmell, N.J. 2009. Fast, cost-effective development of species-specific microsatellite markers by genomic sequencing. Biotechniques 46:185–192.
Bagshaw, A.T.M., Pitt, J.P.W. and Gemmell, N.J. (2008) High frequency of microsatellites in S. cerevisiae meiotic recombination hotspots. BMC Genomics, 9, 49, 1-11
Brandstrom, M., Bagshaw, A.T., Gemmell, N.J. and Ellegren, H. (2008) The relationship between microsatellite polymorphism and recombination hot spots in the human genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25, 12, 2579-2587
Fouquet, A. Green, D. Waldman, B. Bowsher, J.H. McBride, K. and Gemmell, N.J. (2009). Phylogeography of Leiopelma hochstetteri reveals strong genetic structure and suggests new conservation priorities. Conservation Genetics. Accepted 17/4/2009.
Merkel, A. and Gemmell, N. (2008) Detecting short tandem repeats from genome data: opening the software black box. Briefings in Bioinformatics, 9, 5, 355-366
Rosengrave, P., Gemmell, N.J., Metcalf, V., McBride, K. and Montgomerie, R. (2008) A mechanism for cryptic female choice in chinook salmon. Behavioral Ecology, 19, 6, 1179-1185
Warren, W.C., Hillier, L.W., Graves, J.A.M., Birney, E., Ponting, C.P., Grutzner, F., Belov, K., Miller, W., Clarke, L., Chinwalla, A.T., Yang, S-P., Heger, A., Locke, D.P., Miethke, P., Waters, P.D., Veyruns, F., Fulton, L., Fulton, B., Graves, T., Wallis, J., Puente, X.S., Lopez-Otin, C., Ordonez, G.R., Eichler, E.E., Chen, L., Cheng, Z., Deakin, J.E., Alsop, A., Thompson, K., Kirby, P., Papenfus, A.T., Wakefield, M.J., Olender, T., Lancet, D., Huttley, G.A., Smit, A.F., Pask, A., Temple-Smith, P., Batzer, M.A., Walker, J.A., Konkel, M.K., Harris, R.S., Whittington, C.M., Wong, E.S.W. and Gemmell, N.J. et al (2008) Genome analysis of the platypus reveals unique signatures of evolution. Nature, 453, 175-184.
White, D.J. And Gemmell, N.J. (2009). Can indirect tests detect a known recombination event in human mtDNA? Molecular Biology and Evolution. Accepted 7/4/2009
White, D.J., Wolff, J.N., Pierson, M. and Gemmell, N.J. (2008) Revealing the hidden complexities of mtDNA inheritance. Molecular Ecology, 17, 4925-4942.
Wolff, J.N. and Gemmell, N.J. (2008) Lost in the zygote: the dilution of paternal mtDNA upon fertization. Heredity, 101, 429-434.