Michael Gray

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 1X5 | +1 (902) 494-2480

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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS

Faculty Members

Dr. M. W. Gray, Ph.D.

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Dr. Michael Gray, Ph.D. (Alberta), F.R.S.C.

Professor Emeritus
Head of Department 2004-2007
(902) 494-2521
Link to Email

Lab Homepage

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Research Areas:

Mitochondria and Ribosomes: Structure, Function and Evolution

Our research centers on the origin and evolution of mitochondria and ribosomes, two complex subcellular structures in eukaryotic (nucleus-containing) cells. We study gene evolution in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of protists (unicellular eukaryotes), and investigate the biochemistry of unique aspects of gene expression in mitochondria, such as RNA editing. Additionally, we investigate naturally fragmented rRNAs that result from extensive and novel processing of rRNA precursors. The latter project also focuses on nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), which mediate post-transcriptional modification (such as ribose methylation) in rRNA. By exploring these features in an early diverging protist, Euglena gracilis, we hope to gain insights into how the eukaryotic pre-rRNA processing and modification machinery originated.

Graduate Students

Ryan Gawryluk

PhD Program

Lab Personnel

Murray Schnare	Research Assistant (Ph.D., Dalhousie University)
David F. Spencer	Research Assistant (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University)

Recent Publications:

Gawryluk, R.M.R. and Gray, M.W. (2010) An ancient fission of mitochondrial cox1. Mol. Biol. Evol. 27: 7-10 [PubMed]
Gott, J.M., Somerlot, B.H. and Gray, M.W. (2010) Two forms of RNA editing are required for tRNA maturation in Physarum mitochondria. RNA : in press [PubMed]
Gray, M.W. (2010) Ribonucleic acid (RNA). McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology : in press
Gray, M.W. (2010) Organelles. Brenner's Online Encyclopedia of Genetics 2E, S. Maloy and K. Hughes (eds.) Academic Press: in press
Gray, M.W. (2009) RNA editing in plant mitochondria: 20 years later. IUBMB Life 61:1101-1104 [PubMed]
Gawryluk, R.M.R. and Gray, M.W. (2009) A split and rearranged nuclear gene encoding the iron-sulfur subunit of mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase in Euglenozoa. BMC Res. Notes 2:16 [PubMed]
Gray, M.W. (2009) The path to RNA editing in plant mitochondria: the Halifax chapter. IUBMB Life 61:1114-1117 [PubMed]
Charette, J.M. and Gray, M.W. (2009) U3 snoRNA genes are multi-copy and frequently linked to U5 snRNA genes in Euglena gracilis. BMC Genomics 10:528 [PubMed]
Watkins, R.F. and Gray, M.W. (2008) Sampling gene diversity across the supergroup Amoebozoa: large EST data sets from Acanthamoeba castellanii, Hartmannella vermiformis, Physarum polycephalum, Hyperamoeba dachnaya and Hyperamoeba sp. Protist 159:269-281 [PubMed]
Lin, S., Zhang, H. and Gray, M.W. (2008) RNA editing in dinoflagellates and its implications for the evolutionary history of the editing machinery. In RNA and DNA Editing: Molecular Mechanisms and Their Integration into Biological Systems (Smith, H.C., ed.) Wiley Press:280-309
Ruiz-Trillo, I., Roger, A.J., Burger, G., Gray, M.W. and Lang, B.F. (2008) A phylogenomic investigation into the origin of Metazoa. Mol. Biol. Evol. 25:664-672 [PubMed]
O'Brien, E.A., Koski, L.B., Zhang, Y., Yang, L., Wang, E., Gray, M.W., Burger, G. and Lang, B.F. (2007) TBestDB: a taxonomically broad database of expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Nucleic Acids Res. 35:D445-D451 [PubMed]
Ruiz-Trillo, I., Burger, G., Holland, P.W.H., King, N., Lang, B.F., Roger, A.J. and Gray, M.W. (2007) The origins of multicellularity: a multi-taxon genome initiative. Trends Genet. 23:113-118 [PubMed]
Lohan, A.J. and Gray, M.W. (2007) Analysis of 5'- or 3'-terminal tRNA editing: mitochondrial 5' editing in Acanthamoeba castellanii as the exemplar. Methods Enzymol. 424: 221-242 [PubMed]
Rogers, M.B., Watkins, R.F., Harper, J.T., Durnford, D.G., Gray, M.W. and Keeling, P.J. (2007) A complex and punctate distribution of three eukaryotic genes derived by lateral gene transfer. BMC Evol. Biol. 7: 89 [PubMed]
Rodríguez-Ezpeleta, N., Brinkmann, H., Burger, G., Roger, A. J., Gray, M.W., Philippe, H. and Lang, B.F. (2007) Towards resolving the eukaryotic tree: the phylogenetic positions of jakobiods and cercozoans. Curr. Biol. 17:1420-1425 [PubMed]
Jackson, C. J., Norman, J. E., Schnare, M. N., Gray, M. W., Keeling, P. J. and Waller, R. F. (2007) Broad genomic and transcriptional analysis reveals a highly derived genome in dinoflagellate mitochondria. BMC Biol. 5: 41 [PubMed]
Smith, D. G. S., Gawryluk, R. M. R., Spencer, D. F., Pearlman, R. E., Siu, K. W. M. and Gray, M. W. (2007) Exploring the mitochondrial proteome of the ciliate protozoon, Tetrahymena thermophila: direct analysis by tandem mass spectrometry. J. Mol. Biol. 374: 837-863 [PubMed]
Shutt, T.E. and Gray, M.W. (2006) Twinkle, the mitochondrial replicative DNA helicase, is widespread in the eukaryotic radiation and may also be the mitochondrial DNA primase in most eukaryotes J. Mol. Evol. 62:588-599 [PubMed]
Durnford, D.G. and Gray, M.W. (2006) Analysis of Euglena gracilis plastid-targeted proteins reveals different classes of transit sequences. Eukaryot. Cell 5:2079-2091 [PubMed]
Shutt, T.E. and Gray, M.W. (2006) Bacteriophage origins of mitochondrial replication and transcription proteins. Trends Genet. 22:90-95 [PubMed]
Russell, A.G., Schnare, M.N. and Gray, M.W. (2006) A large collection of compact box C/D snoRNAs and their isoforms in Euglena gracilis: structural, functional and evolutionary insights. J. Mol. Biol. 357: 1548-1565 [PubMed]
Shutt, T.E. and Gray, M.W. (2006) Homologs of mitochondrial transcription factor B, sparsely distributed within the eukaryotic radiation, are likely derived from the dimethyladenosine methyltransferase of the mitochondrial endosymbiont. Mol. Biol. Evol. 23:1169-1179 [PubMed]
Watkins, R.F. and Gray, M.W. (2006) The frequency of eubacterium-to-eukaryote lateral gene transfers shows significant cross-taxa variation in the phylum Amoebozoa J. Mol. Evol. 63:801-814 [PubMed]
Russell, A.G., Charette, J.M., Spencer, D.F. and Gray, M.W. (2006) An early evolutionary origin for the minor spliceosome. Nature 443:863-866 [PubMed]
Bullerwell, C.E. and Gray, M.W. (2005) In vitro characterization of a tRNA editing activity in the mitochondria of Spizellomyces punctatus, a chytridiomycete fungus. J. Biol. Chem. 280:2463-2470 [PubMed]
Gray, M.W. (2005) Contemporary issues in mitochondrial origins and evolution. Microbial Phylogeny and Evolution (J. Sapp, ed.) Oxford University Press, New York:224-237
Gray, M. W. (2005) The hydrogenosome's murky past. Nature 434:29-31 [PubMed]
Anderson, I.J., Watkins, R.F., Samuelson, J., Spencer, D.F., Majoros, W.H., Gray, M.W. and Loftus, B.J. (2005) Gene discovery in the Acanthamoeba castellanii genome. Protist 156:203-214 [PubMed]
Russell, A.G., Watanabe, Y-i., Charette, J.M. and Gray, M.W. (2005) Unusual features of fibrillarin cDNA and gene structure in Euglena gracilis: evolutionary conservation of core proteins in methylation-guide box C/D snoRNPs throughout the domain Eucarya. Nucleic Acids Res. 33:2781-2791 [PubMed]
Koski, L.B., Gray, M.W., Lang, B.F. and Burger, G. (2005) AutoFACT: an Automatic Functional Annotation and Classification Tool. BMC Bioinfomatics 6:151 [PubMed]
Keeling, P.J., Burger, G., Durnford, D.G., Lang, B.F., Lee, R.W., Pearlman, R.E., Roger, A. J. and Gray, M.W. (2005) The tree of eukaryotes. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 670-676 [PubMed]
Russell, A.G., Shutt, T.E., Watkins, R.F. and Gray, M.W. (2005) An ancient spliceosomal intron in the ribosomal protein L7a gene (Rpl7a) of Giardia lamblia. BMC Evol. Biol. 5:45 [PubMed]