Department of Biology
Biology » Faculty & Staff
Dr. Jonathan M. Wright

PROFESSOR
BSc Honours (Mt. Allison)
PhD (Memorial)
  • Teaching & Research
  • Students' Research Topics
  • Graduates' occupations
  • Publications
  • Links   
    • Teaching & Research
    Mechanisms and evolution of gene regulation, gene structure and function, zebrafish, development, fatty acid and retinoid binding proteins.

    Desearch interests of my laboratory include:

    Classes in which Jonathan currently teaches:
    • (I) Expression of genes coding for fatty acid and retinoid (vitamin A derivatives) binding proteins in adults and embryos of the zebrafish. Zebrafish serves as a model system for vertebrate development as many of the genes and the developmental processes they control are similar, or the same, in zebrafish and humans. As such, studies in zebrafish can provide valuable insights into developmental processes and disease of humans.
    • (II) Localization of cloned genes to fish chromosomes to determine the structure and evolution of chromosomes.
      Examples of Students' Research Topics
    Honors BSc Students
    • Daniel Sawler - 2008. Regulation of the fabp3 gene by fatty acids and clofribrate in zebrafish.
    • Mark Soric - 2007. The genesis and fate of the duplicated fabp4 genes of zebrafish.
    • Sherri Powell - 2003. Expression of retinoid x receptor genes in zebrafish.
    • Amy Harris - 2002. Expression of the CRBP II gene in zebrafish.
    • Kevin Alban - 2001. Population genetics of the Blanding's turtle using mitochondrial DNA sequences.
    • Vivian Anopuechi - 2001. Expression of a cellular retinol (vitamin A) binding protein gene during zebrafish embryogenesis.
    • Marianne Cameron - 2001. Sequence and tissue-specific expression of a cellular retinol binding protein gene in adult zebrafish.
    • Marianne Pierce - 1999. Tissue-specific expression of an intestinal-type fatty acid binding protein gene in zebrafish.
    • Julie Labbé - 1998. Localization of the 5S ribosomal RNA genes to metaphase chromosomes of Oreochromis niloticus by fluorescent in situ hybridization.
    Silver grains in emulsion autoriography indicates the gene transcripts for a brain fatty acid binding protein in zebrafish.
    Detection of telomeres (chromosome ends) in the chromosomes of the
    African cichlid fish, tilapia.

    Graduate Students

    • Santosh Karanth - Dietary fatty acids differential induce the transeription of duplicated fatty acid-binding protein genes in zebrafish.
    • Ananda B. Venkatachalam - Induction of fatty acid-binding protein genes by clofibrate in zebrafish.
    • Fermanda Alves - Costa - Spatio-temporal distribution of fatty acid-binding protein 6 (fabp6) gene transcripts in zebrafish (visiting student from Brazil)
    • Qian Sun - Functional promotor analysis of three intracellular lipid-binding protein genes from zebrafish (Danio reiro).
    • Vishal Saxena - Functional promoter analysis of four intracellular lipid-binding protein genes in zebrafish. .
    • Mukesh Sharma - Regulation of the genes for the intestinal- and liver-type fatty acid binding proteins in embryos and adults of zebrafish.
    • Rongzong Liu - Regulation of the genes for the brain and heart-type fatty acid binding proteins in embryos and adults of zebrafish.
    • Steve Mockford - Behavioural and population genetics of Blanding's turtle.
    • Cinthia Bachir - Systematics and population structure of Brazilian fishes. (visiting student from the University of São Paulo).
    Jonathan's Lab Staff

    Some Graduates' Occupations
    • Vishal Saxena. MSc. 2005. Research Technician, University of Ottawa.
    • Mukesh Sharnise. PhD. 2004. Postdoctoral Fellow. Washington University.
    • Rongzong Liu, PhD. 2004. Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Alberta.
    • Sherri Powell, BSc. 2003 - Teacher training.
    • Kevin Alban, BSc. 2001 - Medical Student, Grenada.
    • Vivian Anopuechi, BSc. 2001 - Ph.D. Student, South Africa.
    • Marianne Cameron, BSc. 2001 - Medical student, Dalhousie University.
    • Marianne Pierce, B.Sc. 1999 - Medical student, Dalhousie University.
    • Julie Labbé, B.Sc. 1998 - Dentistry student.
    • Dave Coltman, Ph.D. 1997 - Assistant Professor (Lecturer), University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
    • Patrick O'Reilly, Ph.D. 1997 - Research Associate, Dept. Biology, Dalhousie University.
    • Andrew Duffy, M.Sc. 1997 - Systems analyst, Chapters Book Company.
    • Joyce Chew, M.Sc. 1997 - Research technician, Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University.
    • Lorraine Hamilton, M.Sc. 1997 - Research technician, Dept. Pharmacology, Dalhousie University.
    • Andrew Harris, Ph.D. 1995 - Psychiatrist.
    • Amanda Brooker, M.Sc. 1994 - Grade school teacher, Australia.
    • Jens Franck, Ph.D. 1993 - Assistant Professor, Dept. Biology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA.
    • Dawn Forbes, B.Sc. 1993 - Grade school teacher.
    • Steven McCarry, B.Sc. 1993 - Ph.D. graduate, New Zealand.
    • Eileen Denovan, B.Sc. 1989 - Assistant Professor, Dept. Pharmacology, Dalhousie University.
    • Kathy Magor, M.Sc. 1989 - Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta.

    Selected Publications

    Karanth, S., Lall, S.P., Denovan-Wright, E.M., and Wright, J.M. 2009. Differential transcriptional modulation of duplicated fatty acid-binding protein genes by dietary fatty acids in zebrafish: evidence for subfunctionailzation and neofunctionalization of duplicated genes. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 9:219.

    Karanth, S., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and Wright, J.M. 2009.
    Tandem duplication of fabp1b and subsequent divergence of the tissue-specific distribution of fabp1b.1 and fabp1b.2 transcriptsin zebrafish (Danio rerio). Genome. In press.

    Venkatachalam, A.B., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and Wright, J.M. 2009. Differential tissue-specific distribution of transcripts for the duplicated fatty acid-binding protein 10 (fabp10) genes in embryos, larvae and adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). FEBS Journal. In press.

    Karanth, S. Denovan-Wright, E.M., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and Wright, J.M. 2008. The evolutionary relationship between the duplicated copies of the zebrafish fabp11 genes and the tetrapod FABP4, FABP5, FABP8, AND FABP9 genes. FEBS Journal. 275:3031-3040.

    Alves-Costa, F.A. Denovan-Wright, E.M., Thisse, C., Thisse., B. and Wright J.M. 2008. Spatio-temporal distribution of fatty acid-binding protein 6 (fabp6) gene transcripts in the developing and adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). FEBS Journal. 275:3325-3334.

    Liu, R-Z., Saxena, V., Sharma, MK., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., Denovan-Wright, EM., Wright, JM. 2007. The fabp4 gene of zebrafish (Danio rerio): genomic homology with the mammalian FABP4 and divergence from the zebrafish fabp3 in developmental expression. FEBS Journal.274:1621-1633. .

    Mayer, KM., Ford, J., Macpherson, GR., Padgett, D., Volkmann-Kohlmeyer, B., Kohlmeyer, J., Murphy, C., Douglas, SE., Wright, JM., Wright, JLC. 2007. Exploring the diversity of marine-derived fungal polyketide synthases. Canadian J. Microbiology.53:291-302.

    Mockford, S.W., Herman, T.B., Snyder, M., and Wright, J.M. 2007. Conservation genetics of Blanding's turtle and its application in the identification of evolutionarily significant units. Conservations Genetics 8: 209-219.

    Sharma, M.K., Liu, R-Z., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Wright, J.M. 2006. Hierarchical subfunctionalization of fabp1a, fabp1b and fabp10 tissue-specific expression may account for retention of these duplicated genes in the zebrafish (Danio rerio) genome. FEBS Journal. 273: 3216-3229.

    Liu, R-Z., Sharma, M.K., Sun, Q., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., Denovan-Wright, E.M., and Wright, J.M. 2005. Retention of the duplicated cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 1 genes (crabp1a and crabp1b) in the zebrafish genome by subfunctionalization of tissue-specific expression. FEBS Journal. 272: 3561-3571.

    Liu, R-Z., Sun, Q., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., Wright, J.M. and Denovan-Wright, E.M. 2005. The cellular retinol-binding protein genes are duplicated and differentially transcibed in the developing and adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22: 469-477.

    Sharma, M.K., Saxena, V., Liu, R-Z., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., Denovan-Wright, E.M., and Wright, J.M. 2005. Differential expression of the duplicated cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 2 genes (crabp2a and crabp2b) during zebrafish embryonic development. Gene Expression Patterns (Mechanisms of Development). 5: 371-379 .

    Mockford, S.W., McEachern, L., Herman, T.B., Snyder, M., and Wright, J.M. 2005. Population genetic structure of a disjunct population of Blanding's turtle Emydoidea blandingii in Nova Scotia, Canada. Conservation Biology.123: 373-380.

    Zink, R.M., Rising, J.D., Mockford, S., Horn, A.G., Wright, J.M., Leonard, M., and Westberg, M. C. 2005. Mitochondrial DNA variation, species limits, and rapid evolution of plumage, colouration and size in the Savannah Sparrow. Condor. 107: 21-28.

    Moyses, C.B., Mockford, S., Alemeida-Toledo, F., and Wright, J.M. 2004. Nine polymorphic microsatellite loci in the Neotropical electric eel Eigenmannia (Teleosti: Gymnotiformes). Molecular Ecology Notes. 5: 7-9.

    Liu, R-Z., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Degrave, A., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and Wright, J.M. 2004. Differential expression of duplicated genes for brain-type fatty acid-binding proteins (fabp7a and fabp7b) during early development of the CNS in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Gene Expression Patterns (Mechanisms of Development). 4:379-387.

    Sharma, M.K., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Degrave, A., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and
    Wright, J.M. 2004. Sequence, linkage mapping and early developmental
    expression of the intestinal-type fatty acid-binding protein gene (fabp2) from
    zebrafish (Danio rerio)    . Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. 138:391-398.

    Liu, R-Z., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Degrave, A., Thisse, C., Thisse, B., and Wright, J.M. 2004. Spatio-temporal distribution of cellular retinol-binding protein gene transcripts (CRBPI and CRBP II ) in the developing and adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). European Journal of Biochemistry. 271:339-348.

    Martins, C., Oliveira, C., Wasko, A.P., and Wright, J.M. 2004. Physical mapping of the Nile tilipia (Oreochromis niloticus) genome by fluorescent in situ hybridization of repetitive DNAs to metaphase chromosomes - A review. Aquaculture. 231:37-49.

    Liu, R-Z, Denovan-Wright, E.M., and Wright, J.M. 2003. Structure, linkage mapping and expression of the heart-type fatty acid-binding protein gene (fabp3) from zebrafish (Danio rerio). European Journal of Biochemistry. 270:3223-34.

    Sharma, M.K., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Boudreau, M.E.R., and Wright, J.M. 2003. A cellular retinoic acid-binding protein from zebrafish (Danio rerio): cDNA sequence, phylogenetic analysis, mRNA expression and gene linkage mapping. Gene. 311:119-128.

    Liu, R-Z, Denovan-Wright, E.M., and Wright, J.M. 2003. Structure, mRNA expression and linkage mapping of the brain-type fatty acid-binding protein gene (fabp 7) from zebrafish (Danio rerio). European Journal of Biochemistry. 270:715-725.

    Oliveira, C., Wang, Y., Bryden, L.J., and Wright, J.M. 2003. Short interspersed repetitive elements (SINEs) from the cichlid fish, Oreochromis niloticus, and their chromosomal location by fluorescent in situ hybridization. Caryologia 56: 177-185.

    Martins, C., Wasko, A.P., Oliveira, C., Porto-Foresti, F., Parise-Maltempe, P.P., Wright, J. M., and Foresti, F. 2002. Dynamics of 5S rDNA in the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) genome: repeat units, inverted sequences, pseudogenes and chromosome loci. Cytogenetics and Genome Research. 98: 78-85.

    Cameron, M.C., Denovan-Wright, E.M., Sharma, M.K., & Wright, J.M. 2002. Cellular retinol-binding protein type II (CRBPII) in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio): cDNA sequence, tissue-specific expression and gene linkage analysis. European Journal of Biochemistry. 269: 4685-4692.

    Chew, J.S.K., Oliveira, C., Wright, J.M., & Dobson, M.J. 2002. Molecular and cytogenetic analysis of the telomeric (TTAGGG)n repetitive sequence in the Nile tilipia, Oreochromis niloticus (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Chromosoma. 111: 45-52.

    Oliveira, C., Wright, J.M., & Foresti, F. 2002. Chromosome structure in fishes. In: Some Aspects of Chromosome Structure. R.C. Sobti and G. Obe, eds. Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India, pp 103-108.

    Dillon, M.C., Richard, K.R., Whitehead, H., & Wright, J.M. 2002. Social and population genetic structure of sperm whales assessed by molecular genetic analysis. In: Molecular and Cell Biology of Marine Mammals (C.J. Pfeiffer, editor). Krieger Publishing Co., Florida, pp. 43-52.

    Coltman, D.W., Goodman, S.J., & Wright, J.M. 2002. Molecular ecology of Atlantic harbour seals (Phoca vitulina). In: Molecular & Cell Biology of Marine Mammals. (C.J. Pfeiffer, editor). Krieger Publishing Co., Florida, pp. 138-151.

    Wasko, A.P., Martins, C., Wright, J.M., & Galetti Jr., P.M. 2001. Molecular organization of 5S rDNA in the genus Brycon. Genome. 44: 893-902.

    Pierce, M., Wang, Y., Denovan-Wright, E.M., & Wright, J.M. 2000. Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone coding for an intestinal-type fatty acid binding protein and its expression in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1490:175-183.

    Denovan-Wright, E.M., Pierce, M., & Wright, J.M. 2000. Nucleotide sequence of cDNA clones coding for a brain-type fatty acid binding protein and its tissue-specific expression in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1942:221-226.

    Denovan-Wright, E.M., Pierce, M., Sharma, M.K., & Wright, J.M. 2000. cDNA sequence and tissue-specific expression of a basic liver-type fatty acid binding protein in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1492:227-232.

    Martins, C., Wasko, A., Oliveira, C., & Wright, J.M. 2000. Nucleotide sequence of 5S rDNA and localization of the ribosomal RNA genes to metaphase chromosomes of the tilapiine cichlid fish, Oreochromis niloticus. Hereditas 133:39-46.

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