Dr Steve Chenoweth

A UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award winner is investigating how genetic triggers produce key differences between males and females such as longevity and particular disease rates.

Dr Steve Chenoweth, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer with UQ’s School of Integrative Biology, is using a native species of fruit fly, Drosophila serrata, to understand how genomes are able to produce males and females.

"Differences between males and females make up a substantial component of diversity in the biological world, with the sexes often differing in size, shape and colour," said Dr Chenoweth, who won an $80,000 Foundation Research Excellence Award.

"The catch from a genetic standpoint is that the male and female sexes share almost all of their genes. Because of this, many genes that benefit one sex may actually be harmful to the other."

"In birds, a gene that causes brightly coloured plumage in males may have advantages in terms of attracting a mate whereas its effect in a female could be a distinct disadvantage in making her more noticeable to predators."

He believes that while the genes for sex differences may be shared, the trigger for their development or suppression might be located on sex chromosomes.

"Once we understand where these sex-specific triggers are and how they work, there is potential for developing intervention methods to control sex differences in the development of certain conditions such as heart disease - much higher among men - as well as areas such as longevity - women on average live a lot longer than men," he said.

• Dr Steve Chenoweth www.uq.edu.au/uqresearchers/researcher/chenowethsf.html

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