Andrew J. Roger

Andrew J. Roger is a Canadian-Australian molecular biologist and evolutionary bioinformatician. He is currently a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University and was the founding director (from 2008-2017) of the inter-departmental Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics (CGEB).[1]

Andrew J. Roger
Andrew J. Roger
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia, Dalhousie University
InfluencesFord Doolittle
Academic work
InstitutionsDalhousie University
Main interestsEukaryotic organisms, biology and evolution of mitochondria, hydrogenosomes and mitosomes, comparative genomics of unicellular eukaryotes, modeling the evolution of genes and genomes
Websitehttps://medicine.dal.ca/departments/department-sites/biochemistry-molecular-biology/our-people/faculty/roger.html

Education and Career

Roger received his B.Sc from the University of British Columbia and his PhD from Dalhousie University. Roger was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2012[2] for his work on eukaryotic superkingdoms, his work on the evolution of mitochondrion-related organelles in anaerobic protists and his contribution to investigating and improving phylogenetic models [3]

Research

A former student of Ford Doolittle, Roger's research focuses on the 'deep' Tree of Life, especially determining the super-kingdom-level relationships amongst eukaryotes and clarifying the nature of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA).[4] Using phylogenomic approaches Roger's group elucidates the patterns and process of genome evolution in eukaryotic microbes. His research also addresses the evolutionary origin of mitochondria, hydrogenosomes, and mitosomes,[5][6][7] the role of lateral (horizontal) gene transfer in eukaryotic genome evolution[8][9] and how anaerobic parasites evolved from free-living ancestors.

Selected publications
  • Roger, A.J. and Susko, E. (2018) Molecular clocks provide little information to date methanogenic archaea. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2: 1676-1677.
  • Muñoz-Gómez, S.A., Hess, S., Burger, G., Lang, B.F., Susko, E., Slamovits, C.H. and Roger, A.J. (2019) An updated phylogeny of the Alphaproteobacteria reveals that the parasitic Rickettsiales and *Holosporales have independent origins. eLife, Feb. 25; 8. pii: e42535.
  • Hess, S., Eme, L., Roger, A.J. and Simpson, A.G.B. (2019) A natural toroidal microswimmer propelled by a rotary eukaryotic flagellum. Nature Microbiol. 4:1620-1626.
  • Susko E. and Roger, A.J. (2019) On the use of information criteria for model selection in phylogenetics. Mol. Biol. Evol., Nov. 5
  • Susko E, Roger AJ., (2013) Problems with estimation of ancestral frequencies under stationary models. Syst Biol. 62(2):330-8
  • Stairs, C.W., Roger, A.J. and Hampl, V. , (2011) Eukaryotic pyruvate formate lyase and its activating enzyme were acquired laterally from a firmicute. Mol. Biol. Evol. 28:2087-2099

References
  1. "Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology".
  2. http://www.rsc-src.ca/en/search-fellows?keywords_44=&first_name=Andrew&last_name=Roger&display_name=Dalhousie+University&election_year_21=&academy_25=All&division_24=All&discipline_23=All&is_deceased=0&sort_by=last_name&sort_order=ASC
  3. "A "Royal" recognition for Dal scientists".
  4. "Roger Lab".
  5. Muñoz-Gómez, S. A.; Wideman, J. G.; Roger, A. J.; Slamovits, C. H. (2017). "The origin of mitochondrial cristae from alphaproteobacteria". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34 (4): 943–956. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw298. PMID 28087774.
  6. Stairs, Courtney W.; Eme, Laura; Brown, Matthew W.; Mutsaers, Cornelis; Susko, Edward; Dellaire, Graham; Soanes, Darren M.; van der Giezen, Mark; Roger, Andrew J. (June 2014). "A SUF Fe-S Cluster Biogenesis System in the Mitochondrion-Related Organelles of the Anaerobic Protist Pygsuia". Current Biology. 24 (11): 1176–1186. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.04.033. PMID 24856215.
  7. Leger, M. M.; Gawryluk, R. M.; Gray, M. W.; Roger, A. J. (2013). "Evidence for a Hydrogenosomal-Type Anaerobic ATP Generation Pathway in Acanthamoeba castellanii". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e69532. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...869532L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069532. PMC 3785491. PMID 24086244.
  8. Leger, Michelle M.; Eme, Laura; Stairs, Courtney W.; Roger, Andrew J. (2018). "Demystifying Eukaryote Lateral Gene Transfer (Response to Martin 2017 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201700115)". BioEssays. 40 (5): 1700242. doi:10.1002/bies.201700242. PMID 29543982. S2CID 3927083.
  9. Sibbald, Shannon J.; Eme, Laura; Archibald, John M.; Roger, Andrew J. (August 19, 2020). "Lateral Gene Transfer Mechanisms and Pan-genomes in Eukaryotes". Trends in Parasitology. 36 (11): 927–941. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2020.07.014. PMID 32828660. S2CID 221282630.
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