Sara joined the Johannesson group in September 2015. She studied the evolution of DNA methylation in species of the filamentous ascomycetes Neurospora. DNA methylation as an epigenetic mark plays an important role in genome defense in Neurospora species through silencing of transposable elements (TEs). We found that the methylation level varied among the genomes in a species-specific way and that the species with the highest TE load also exhibited the highest methylation level per TE. Furthermore, she was investigating the dynamic of DNA methylation over development and explore if the dynamic pattern comprise a conserved evolutionary trait in Neuropora species, and explored the rate of evolution of DNA methylation over the investigated time scale. Sara is currently working as a laboratory engineer at Olink proteomics.
Johannesson Lab
at Stockholm University