Gertraud Burger

Professor

Contact Information

Département de biochimie
Faculté de Médecine
Université de Montréal
Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, room H-307-13
C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville
Montréal (Québec)
H3C 3J7

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P 514 343-7936
F 514 343-2210
gertraud.burger@umontreal.ca
WWW

Themes

  • Molecular evolution
  • Bioinformatics, Genomics, Transcriptomics and Proteomics

Genome Evolution

Our research focus is on genome architecture, gene content and gene expression mechanisms. We are studying (i) mitochondrial genomes to trace back the transition from an endosymbiotic bacterium to an integral substructure of the eukaryotic cell; and (ii) nuclear genomes of primitive eukaryotes, to establish the different tracks in genome diversification. The data we are generating also serve for understanding how innovative molecular mechanisms have emerged, such as RNA editing and trans-splicing.

The principal experimental approach is genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and RNA biochemistry.

Bioinformatics tools for genome annotation

We are developping effective bioinformatics approaches for the assembly and functional annotation of genome sequences, integrating prediction of protein subcellular localization and metabolic pathways.

My research projects include multi-disciplinary, national and international collaborations.

Publications

  • Moreira S, Breton S and Burger G (2012) « Unscrambling genetic information at the RNA level ». Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA 3:213
  • Burger G, Gray MW, Forget L, Lang BG (2013) « A strinkingly bacteria-like and gene-rich mitochondrial genome is a hallmark of jakobid protists ». Genome Biol Evol 5:418
  • Moreira S, Valach M, Aoulad-Aissa M, Otto, Burger G (2016) « Novel modes of RNA editing in mitochondria ». Nucleic Acids Res, doi: 10.1093/nar/gkw188