About us

Our laboratory research activity is focused on topics of genetic analysis, genomics, and bioinformatics approached via the Drosophila melanogaster (the so-called fruit fly, or the vinegar fly) experimental model.

Our research group is mainly concerned on the biology of class II transposons resident in the genome of D. melanogaster. The transposons are mobile elements with an intriguing behavior, as they are able to relocate in the host genome, inducing large mutations, and therefore shaping the genomes, being one of the heavy fuel of the evolution process. In this regard, we are trying to inquire the following issues: Where is the border between random and targeted transposition? What is the biological meaning of the insertional hotspots? How various stress factors might trigger bursts of transpositions equivalent to adaptive responses?   

On the other hand, we approached a variety of research topics on the D. melanogaster model system, such as:

• optimization of gene mapping by FISH technology; molecular and phenotypic studies on insertion alleles of gammaCOP, Ube3a and CC18135 genes;
• modeling of Angelman syndrome on mutants of Ube3a gene;
• insertional/excisional mutagenesis with P-element derived artificial transposable elements;
• ONT whole-genome sequencing of a natural population of melanogaster(Horezu_LaPeri fruit fly strain);
• detailed mapping of class II transposons in the genome of Horezu_LaPeri and other D. melanogaster strains;
• gene expression analysis of the innate response of fruit fly consecutive to experimental infections with bacteria by microarray platform, qRT-PCR, whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing, and 16S rRNA-Seq technologies;
• design and development of Genome ARTIST (www.genomeartist.ro) and qDATA (https://github.com/DL-UB/qDATA) bioinformatics tools.

Genome ARTIST is a versatile nucleotide sequence aligner able to map mobile elements sequences to any given genome. Genome ARTIST computes with very high accuracy the border between the genomic and transposon sequences, a key aspect for precise mapping of transposons in a genome. This tool may be used for mapping of insertional viruses, but also for checking PCR primers specificity and for identifying structural orthologs.

qDATA is an open-source, R-based application designed for the automatic analysis, statistical description/testing, and visualization of qRT-PCR data.

Recent focuses of our laboratory are the sequencing and annotation of some local strains of Drosophila suzukii and Bombyx mori, two insect species with a consistent impact on agriculture. Moreover, we intend to sequence and annotate the genome of Apis mellifera carpatica.