Department of Veterinary Medicine

Cambridge Veterinary School

Research in Veterinary Medicine

Willem Rens

Position(s): Senior Research Associate

Email: wr203@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk

Tel.: +44 (0)1223 339553

Other relevant links

Research description

Chromosome segregation of monotreme chromosomes at mitosis.

The lab research interests are divided in three parts.

  1. We are investigating the evolution of vertebrate sex determination with particular interest in the multiple sex chromosomes of monotremes and comparing them with those of other mammalian species and lizards, reptiles and birds. Sex determination and differentiation is influenced by a complex network of many genes. Comparative genomic studies will lead to a better understanding of this network. Studies include the evolution of dosage compensation mechanisms, genomic imprinting, and the degeneration process of the sex determining chromosome(s).
  2. We are studying the 3D nuclear architecture of interphase nuclei of different mammalian species. This new field of research has shown that the spatial organization of chromosomes has functional importance. Studying interphase cells of mammalian species other than human is important, to determine if a particular organization is conserved or is a derived state.
  3. We are studying chromosome segregation in different species to understand the factors, proteins and checkpoints that are important in this process. Defects in chromosome segregation play a critical role in producing genomic instability and aneuploidy, which are associated with congenital diseases and carcinogenesis.

Main collaborators

  • Jenny Graves, the Australian National University in Canberra
  • Frank Grutzner, University of Adelaide
  • Francesca Degrassi, Università "La Sapienza" in Rome
  • Anne Ferguson-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Walter Just, University of Ulm
  • Vladimir Trifonov, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosobirsk, Russia
  • Rachel O'Neill, University of Connecticut, USA.
  • Mark Ross, Illumina, Inc., Little Chesterford, UK

Key publications since 2001

  • Rens W, O'Brien PC, Grutzner F, Clarke O, Graphodatskaya D, Tsend-Ayush E, Trifonov VA, Skelton H, Wallis MC, Johnston S, Veyrunes F, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: The multiple sex chromosomes of platypus and echidna are not completely identical and several share homology with the avian Z. Genome Biol 2007, 8: R243.
  • Edwards CA, Rens W, Clarke O, Mungall AJ, Hore T, Graves JA, Dunham I, Ferguson-Smith AC, Ferguson-Smith MA: The evolution of imprinting: chromosomal mapping of orthologues of mammalian imprinted domains in monotreme and marsupial mammals. BMC Evol Biol 2007, 7: 157.
  • Grafodatskaya D, Rens W, Wallis MC, Trifonov V, O'Brien PC, Clarke O, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: Search for the sex-determining switch in monotremes: Mapping WT1, SF1, LHX1, LHX2, FGF9, WNT4, RSPO1 and GATA4 in platypus. Chromosome Res 2007, 15: 777-785.
  • Rens W, Fu B, O'Brien P.C., Ferguson-Smith M.A.: Cross-species chromosome painting. Nature Protocols 2006, 1: 783-790.
  • Rens W, Torosantucci L, Degrassi F, Ferguson-Smith MA: Incomplete sister chromatid separation of long chromosome arms. Chromosoma 2006, 115: 481-490.
  • Rens W, Grutzner F, O'Brien PC, Fairclough H, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: Resolution and evolution of the duck-billed platypus karyotype with an X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3X4Y4X5Y5 male sex chromosome constitution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2004, 101: 16257-16261.
  • Grutzner F, Rens W, Tsend-Ayush E, El Mogharbel N, O'Brien PC, Jones RC, Ferguson-Smith MA, Marshall Graves JA: In the platypus a meiotic chain of ten sex chromosomes shares genes with the bird Z and mammal X chromosomes. Nature 2004, 432: 913-917.
  • Rens W, O'Brien PC, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: Localization of chromosome regions in potoroo nuclei ( Potorous tridactylus Marsupialia: Potoroinae). Chromosoma 2003, 112: 66-76.
  • Rens W, O'Brien PC, Fairclough H, Harman L, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: Reversal and convergence in marsupial chromosome evolution. Cytogenet Genome Res 2003, 102: 282-290.
  • Rens W, O'Brien PC, Yang F, Solanky N, Perelman P, Graphodatsky AS, Ferguson MW, Svartman M, De Leo AA, Graves JA, Ferguson-Smith MA: Karyotype relationships between distantly related marsupials from South America and Australia. Chromosome Res 2001, 9: 301-308.