Dr. André Marques

My current and future research goals involve manipulating chromosome behaviour and meiotic processes to create novel strategies in synthetic chromosome biology and inducing genetic diversity with potential applications for sustainable agriculture and food security. We also investigate chromosome structure and function in plants using molecular biology and genomics techniques, with a focus on unravelling the role of chromosomal organization in epigenome, cell division, and evolution. Currently we are starting a program to apply CRISPR/Cas9 approaches to design chromosomes for optimizing meiotic recombination control and understanding centromere function.

1. Hofstatter PG, Thangavel G, Lux T, Neumann P, Vondrak T, Novak P, Zhang M, Costa L, Castellani M, Scott A, Toegelová H, Fuchs J, Mata-Sucre Y, Dias Y, Vanzela ALL, Huettel B, Almeida CCS, Simková H, Souza G, Pedrosa-Harand A, Macas J, Mayer KFX, Houben A, Marques A (2022) Repeat-based holocentromeres influence genome architecture and karyotype evolution. Cell 185(17):3153-+. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.045.
2. Castellani M, Zhang M, Thangavel G, Mata-Sucre Y, Lux T, Campoy JA, Marek M, Huettel B, Sun H, Mayer KFX, Schneeberger K, Marques A (2024) Meiotic recombination dynamics in plants with repeat-based holocentromeres shed light on the primary drivers of crossover patterning. Nat Plants. doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01625-y.
3. Marques A, Schubert V, Houben A, Pedrosa-Harand A (2016) Restructuring of Holocentric Centromeres During Meiosis in the Plant. Genetics 204(2):555-+. doi: 10.1534/genetics.116.191213.
4. Marques A, Ribeiro T, Neumann P, Macas J, Novák P, Schubert V, Pellino M, Fuchs J, Ma W, Kuhlmann M, Brandt R, Vanzela ALL, Beseda T, Simková H, Pedrosa-Harand A, Houben A (2015) Holocentromeres in Rhynchospora are associated with genome-wide centromere-specific repeat arrays interspersed among euchromatin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112(48):E6720-E6720. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1521907112.
5. Cabral G, Marques A, Schubert V, Pedrosa-Harand A, Schlögelhofer P (2014) Chiasmatic and achiasmatic inverted meiosis of plants with holocentric chromosomes. Nat Commun 5. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6070.