Abstract
Mammalian and avian chromosomes differ in structure and evolutionary stability. While avian genomes tend to be small and evolutionary stable across the majority of avian species, the mammalian genomes are about three times larger and often differ in chromosome structure even among closely related species. This Ph.D. programme will investigate the evolutionary basis of this difference and its implication on phenotypic diversity in the two animal Classes. This will be achieved through improvement and comparison of genome assemblies representing each of the major avian and mammalian Orders (and assembled to complete chromosomal levels with novel sequencing and mapping technologies).
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