15/10/2023 – ongoing Postdoctoral fellow (University of Bologna)
I am investigated RNASeq data from female- and male-biased eggs to investigate molecular factors that may be responsible for the peculiar mitochondrial segregation in DUI species. I am performing single-cell RNA sequencing in embryos of the mollusc Mytilus galloprovinciails, to investigate molecular factors responsible for sex determination in molluscs.
15/09/2021 – 14/09/2023 Postdoctoral fellow (University of Bologna)
The extraordinary lifespan disparity (from 1 to 500+ years) makes bivalve molluscs useful animal model systems to explore the mechanisms associated with ageing and longevity. During my second Post-Doc, I performed a comparative analysis, using RNA-Seq data from 30 bivalve species, to infer genes with different evolution patterns among long- and short-living species. This analysis allowed me to detect a network of interacting genes involved in ageing and longevity in bivalves. I found that many genes in this network had been previously associated with longevity in other species. An important implication of this finding is that an extension of lifespan may involve common genetic factors in very distantly related species. This suggests that mechanisms involved in lifespan extension are shared across animals.
01/07/2018 – 30/06/2020 Postdoctoral fellow (University of Bologna)
During my first post-Doc, my research focused on the study of mitochondrial biology in the bivalve species R. philippinarum. This species is characterized by the doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondria (DUI), where both maternal and paternal mtDNA are transmitted to the offspring. This peculiar mechanism of mitochondrial inheritance makes DUI species unique models for studying mitochondrial biology, mito-nuclear coevolution, mitochondrial inheritance and bottleneck. During these years I had the opportunity to investigate the within-individual variability of maternally- and paternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) populations. More in detail, I developed a mitochondrial enrichment protocol, specifically designed for R. philippinarum, and the mitochondria-enriched DNA fraction has been sequenced using High Throughput Sequencing. This work allowed me to investigate the segregation of paternally-inherited mtDNA in different tissues, an aspect not investigated so far. As a consequence of the very small population size (coming from just 4 sperm mitochondria) of paternally-inherited mtDNA, I found the highest within-individual variability observed so far in animals. This result opens new exciting discussions on the effect of genetic bottlenecks on within-individual mtDNA population.
1/11/2014–7/05/2018 : PhD Student in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences (University of Bologna)
My PhD project focused on the evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial genes in molluscs by using
different High Throughput Sequencing approaches, such as RNA-Seq and Whole Genome
Sequencing. My main interest was the evolution of sequence and transcription rate of genes.
I also investigated the evolution of the nuclear genome in response to the high variability of
mitochondrial DNA in bivalves. For this purpose, I analyzed transcription levels and rate of protein
evolution of genes involved in the Oxidative Phosphorylation pathway (OXPHOS) and other nuclear
genes involved in mitochondrial functions. I used as model organisms the bivalve molluscs Ruditapes
philippinarum, a species with an unusual mechanism of mitochondrial inheritance (Doubly Uniparental
Inheritance, DUI) and Ruditapes decussatus, a species with Strictly Maternal Inheritance of
mitochondria (SMI). Furhtermore, I studied the co-evolution of mitochondrial and nuclear genes of the
Oxidative Phosphorylation pathway in 30 bivalve species, by using available RNA-Seq data.
During my PhD I also developed a transcriptome annotation pipeline for non-model organisms, which
integrates different tools and databases to infer remote homologies and obtain a good quality
annotation and orthology identification.
I had also the opportunity investigate the variability, in terms of SNPs and structural variations, of
mitochondrial DNA in somatic tissues and germ line of the DUI species R. philippinarum.
I was involved in different projects, particularly, I investigated the effects of chemical pollution on the bivalve R. philippinarum and their implications on mitochondrial functions, by analyzing data from denovo genome assembly and RNA-Seq in several tissues.
Finally, I am involved in a study on reproductive strategies in the arthropod Reticulitermes lucifugus.
10 Oct 2011–9 Jul 2013 : Master's Degree in Biodiversity and Evolution (110/110 cum laude)
Alma Mater Studiorum, Bologna (Italy)
1 Oct 2008–28 Oct 2011 : Bachelor's Degree in Natural Science (110/110 cum laude)
Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina (Italy)
