Jamie Walters, PhD

Jamie Walters, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Kansas

Dr. James (Jamie) R. Walters is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University, followed by post-doctoral training at the University of Cambridge (UK) and Stanford. Dr. Walters joined the University of Kansas in 2013, where he teaches courses in genetics, genomics, and computational biology. His research focuses on genomics of insects, primarily moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), with an emphasis on the diversity and evolutionary dynamics of sex chromosomes and reproductive proteins.

 

Evolutionary Genomics Of Neo-Sex Chromosomes In Monarchs And Related Butterflies

Relative to autosomes, sex chromosomes usually exhibit diverse patterns of genetic variation and gene regulation. The last decade of rapid advances in long-read sequencing and functional genomics have paved the way for investigating this diversity in novel species, uncovering unexpected and unprecedented patterns. My research uses these approaches to characterize sex chromosome evolution in the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and related Danaine butterflies. All moths and butterflies are female-heterogametic, where females have an intact Z and degenerate W sex chromosomes while males are ZZ, offering an informative contrast to major male-heterogametic (XY) genetic model systems. I will present highlights from our work, including: 1) multiple independent Z-autosome chromosomal fusions, 2) elevated rates of molecular evolution for Z-linked genes, 3) masculinized gene expression on the Z chromosome, and 4) striking reductions in genetic diversity on the W chromosome.