Patrick Ferree

Biography

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in how selfish genetic elements including bacterial symbionts and B chromosomes disrupt reproductive processes for transmission enhancement. We explore mechanistic dynamics of these selfish agents in the jewel wasp, Nasonia vitripennis, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and other insect species. We also investigate certain aspects of haplo-diploid reproductive development in Nasonia. Our methodological approaches include fluorescence confocal microscopy, classical genetics, transgenesis, CRISPR, RNA interference, molecular biology, and genomics (basically anything needed to address a chosen experimental question).

Courses Taught

• BIOL43L, Introductory Biology
• BIOL143, Genetics
• BIOL151L, Developmental Biology
• BIOL173L, Molecular Biology Seminar
• BIOL187F, Advanced Genetics

Selected Research and Publication

• Lee H, Seo P, Teklay S, Yuguchi E, Dalla Benetta E, Werren JH, Ferree PM (2023) Ability of a selfish B chromosome to evade genome elimination in the jewel wasp, Nasonia vitripennis. Heredity, 131(3): 230-237 LINK
• Ferree, PM. (2023) Selfish B chromosomes unleashed by a dysfunctional chromosome segregation system. Current Biology 33(11): R431-R434 LINK
• Dalla Benetta E, Akbari OS, Ferree PM. (2021) Mechanistically comparing reproductive manipulations caused by selfish chromosomes and bacterial symbionts. Heredity 126(5): 1-10 LINK
• Eastin KJ, Huang AP, Ferree PM (2020) A novel pattern of germ cell divisions in the production of hymenopteran insect eggs. Biology letters 16(5): 20200137 LINK
• Dalla Benetta E, Antoschechkin I, Yang T, Nguyen HQM, Ferree PM (2020) Genome elimination mediated by gene expression from a selfish chromosome. Science Advances 6(14) eaaz9808 LINK