I am doing my PhD at the Group of Biology of Reproduction (GBR; 1997), with the FPI 2020 fellowship. The purpose of my thesis is to improve knowledge about the relevance of DNA methylation on several aspects of fish physiology, such as development and reproduction.
Specifically, I am studying the reprogramming of inherited methylation marks during embryo development, the validation of predictive biomarkers of sexual determination and the identification of pure epialleles as genetically independent markers of exposure to high rearing temperatures.
These objectives are pursued through the quantification of DNA methylation at single nucleotide resolution, at whole genome and wide genome level. To elucidate its role in the regulation of gene expression, transcriptome analysis is carried out through mRNA sequencing. The European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is used as animal model, given its importance in the European aquaculture industry and knowledge of its genetics, since the genome has already been fully sequenced.