The level of sexual dimorphism depends on the environment where Silene latifolia grows. We are looking for QTL based on a cross between plants from dry and wet environments, with a special interest to QTL that localise on the sex chromosomes.
Lines with large and small flowers (good for females and males, respecively) have been generated by artificial selection. Gene expression differences between those lines should reveal the first genes that respond to such sexually antagonistic selection.
Confirmation of male-specific PCR markers in the annual plant Mercurialis annua.
Incomplete penetrance of sex determination in frogs, and achiasmatic meiosis in males, allows for interesting possibilities in the evolution of a new sex chromosome.
A study of viability and fertility of YY plants, produced by hormonal treatment and prunning, allows to determine the phenotypic effects of possible Y chromosome degeneration.
Variation in the extent of sex chromosome differentiation exists within the same population for the common frog, Rana temporaria. This alows to directly compare possible effects on male fitness while controlling for the rest of the genome, and the environment.