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by | Mar 12, 2018 | Lilium

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Andrew J. Roger is a Canadian-Australian molecular biologist and evolutionary bioinformatician. He is currently a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University and was the founding director (from 2008-2017) of the inter-departmental Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics (CGEB).[1]

Education and career

Roger received his B.Sc from the University of British Columbia and his PhD from Dalhousie University. Roger was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2012[2] for his work on eukaryotic superkingdoms, his work on the evolution of mitochondrion-related organelles in anaerobic protists and his contribution to investigating and improving phylogenetic models [3]

Research

A former student of Ford Doolittle, Roger's research focuses on the 'deep' Tree of Life, especially determining the super-kingdom-level relationships amongst eukaryotes and clarifying the nature of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA).[4] Using phylogenomic approaches Roger's group elucidates the patterns and process of genome evolution in eukaryotic microbes. His research also addresses the evolutionary origin of mitochondria, hydrogenosomes, and mitosomes,[5][6][7] the role of lateral (horizontal) gene transfer in eukaryotic genome evolution[8][9] and how anaerobic parasites evolved from free-living ancestors.

Selected publications

  • Roger, A.J. and Susko, E. (2018) Molecular clocks provide little information to date methanogenic archaea. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2: 1676-1677.
  • Muñoz-Gómez, S.A., Hess, S., Burger, G., Lang, B.F., Susko, E., Slamovits, C.H. and Roger, A.J. (2019) An updated phylogeny of the Alphaproteobacteria reveals that the parasitic Rickettsiales and *Holosporales have independent origins. eLife, Feb. 25; 8. pii: e42535.
  • Hess, S., Eme, L., Roger, A.J. and Simpson, A.G.B. (2019) A natural toroidal microswimmer propelled by a rotary eukaryotic flagellum. Nature Microbiol. 4:1620-1626.
  • Susko E. and Roger, A.J. (2019) On the use of information criteria for model selection in phylogenetics. Mol. Biol. Evol., Nov. 5
  • Susko E, Roger AJ., (2013) Problems with estimation of ancestral frequencies under stationary models. Syst Biol. 62(2):330-8
  • Stairs, C.W., Roger, A.J. and Hampl, V. , (2011) Eukaryotic pyruvate formate lyase and its activating enzyme were acquired laterally from a firmicute. Mol. Biol. Evol. 28:2087-2099

References

  1. ^ "Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology".
  2. ^ http://www.rsc-src.ca/en/search-fellows?keywords_44=&first_name=Andrew&last_name=Roger&display_name=Dalhousie+University&election_year_21=&academy_25=All&division_24=All&discipline_23=All&is_deceased=0&sort_by=last_name&sort_order=ASC [dead link]
  3. ^ "A "Royal" recognition for Dal scientists".
  4. ^ "Roger Lab".
  5. ^ Muñoz-Gómez, S. A.; Wideman, J. G.; Roger, A. J.; Slamovits, C. H. (2017). "The origin of mitochondrial cristae from alphaproteobacteria". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34 (4): 943–956. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw298. PMID 28087774.
  6. ^ Stairs, Courtney W.; Eme, Laura; Brown, Matthew W.; Mutsaers, Cornelis; Susko, Edward; Dellaire, Graham; Soanes, Darren M.; van der Giezen, Mark; Roger, Andrew J. (June 2014). "A SUF Fe-S Cluster Biogenesis System in the Mitochondrion-Related Organelles of the Anaerobic Protist Pygsuia". Current Biology. 24 (11): 1176–1186. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.04.033. PMID 24856215.
  7. ^ Leger, M. M.; Gawryluk, R. M.; Gray, M. W.; Roger, A. J. (2013). "Evidence for a Hydrogenosomal-Type Anaerobic ATP Generation Pathway in Acanthamoeba castellanii". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e69532. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...869532L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069532. PMC 3785491. PMID 24086244.
  8. ^ Leger, Michelle M.; Eme, Laura; Stairs, Courtney W.; Roger, Andrew J. (2018). "Demystifying Eukaryote Lateral Gene Transfer (Response to Martin 2017 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201700115)". BioEssays. 40 (5): 1700242. doi:10.1002/bies.201700242. PMID 29543982. S2CID 3927083.
  9. ^ Sibbald, Shannon J.; Eme, Laura; Archibald, John M.; Roger, Andrew J. (August 19, 2020). "Lateral Gene Transfer Mechanisms and Pan-genomes in Eukaryotes". Trends in Parasitology. 36 (11): 927–941. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2020.07.014. PMID 32828660. S2CID 221282630.
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