David Smith, Phd
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Western Ontario
Canada
Biography
David Smith, PhD Assistant Professor of Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Research Interest
We study genome architecture, genetic diversity, and the evolutionary forces that fashion genes and chromosomes. We’re interested in how nonadaptive processes shape genomes, including their nucleotide composition, compactness, conformation, chromosome number and telomeres. Much of our research employs protists (microbial eukaryotes). Protists have among the most diverse and eccentric genomes in the biological world, yet they are generally an untapped resource for studying genome evolution. We love weird genomes and trying to understand how they got that way.
Publications
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Asmail SR, Smith DR. Retention, erosion, and loss of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in the nonphotosynthetic green algal genus Polytomella. New Phytologist. 2016 Feb 1;209(3):899-903.
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Smith DR. The past, present and future of mitochondrial genomics: have we sequenced enough mtDNAs?. Briefings in functional genomics. 2015 Jun 27;15(1):47-54.
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Tian Y, Smith DR. Recovering complete mitochondrial genome sequences from RNA-Seq: a case study of Polytomella non-photosynthetic green algae. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 2016 May 31;98:57-62.
