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Urban Friberg

Senior Associate Professor

My research focuses the evolution and genetics of ageing and how a single genome can generate two sexes.

Ever since I read ‘The Selfish gene’ by Richard Dawkins I have been fascinated by evolution. This interest has lead me to study conflicts between the sexes and different parts of the genome, homosexuality, and more recently why we age and how one genome can produce two often widely different sexes. Read more about the research we conduct in my laboratory here.

Current and past collaborators

News

Fruit fly close up.

Ageing neutralises sex differences in the brain

When male and female fruit flies age, their brains become desexualized. This is the conclusion of a study performed by a research group at Linköping University.
Martin Iinatti Brengdahl examining fruit flies in a microscope.

Mutations that affect ageing – more common than we thought?

The number of mutations that can contribute to ageing may be significantly higher than previously believed, according to new research on fruit flies. The study supports a new theory about the type of mutation that can lie behind ageing.
fruit flies in a tube

Why females age more slowly than males

Males and females have different strategies to maximise the number of offspring during life. The differences in reproductive strategy contribute to differences in aging between the sexes, according to a new study of fruit flies carried out at LiU.

Publications

Full list of publications available through ResearchGate and Google Scholar.

55. Shenoi, V.N., Mital, A., Brengdahl, M.I., Abson, K., Henderson, G., Maxwell, M., Berger, D. and Friberg, U. 2023. On ageing and age-specific effects of spontaneous mutations. Evolution Accepted.
54.

Brengdahl, M.I., Kimber, C.M., Shenoi, V.N., Dumea, M., Mital, A. and Friberg, U. 2023. Age-specific effects of deletions: implications for ageing theories. Evolution 77: 254-263.
53.

Malacrinò, A., Brengdahl, M.I., Kimber, C.M., Mital, A., Shenoi, V.N., Mirabello, C. and Friberg, U. 2022. Ageing desexualizes the Drosophila brain transcriptome. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B Link to article.
52. Shenoi, V.N., Brengdahl, M.I., Grace, J.L., Eriksson, B., Rydén, P. and Friberg, U. 2022. A genome-wide test for paternal indirect genetic effects on lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 289: 20212707. Link to article.
51. Brengdahl, M., Kimber, C.M., Elias, P., Thompson, J, and Friberg U. 2020. Deleterious mutations show increasing negative effect with age in Drosophila melanogaster. BMC Biology 18:128 Link to article.
50.

Malacrinò, A., Kimber, C.M., Brengdahl, M. and Friberg U. 2019. Heightened condition dependence of the sexual transcriptome as a function of genetic quality in Drosophila melanogaster head tissue. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 286: 20190819. Link in article.
49.

Zajitschek, F., Georgolopoulos, G., Vourlou, A., Zajitschek, S.R.K., Friberg, U. and Maklakov. A.A. 2019. Evolution under dietary restriction decouples survival from fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster females. Journalof Gerontology: Biological Sciences 74:1542-1548. Link to article.
48.

Brengdahl, M., Kimber, C.M., Maguire-Baxter J., Malacrinò, A. and Friberg U. 2018. Genetic quality affects the rate of male and female reproductive ageing differently in Drosophila melanogaster. American Naturalist 192:761-772. Link to article.
47.

Brengdahl, M., Kimber, C.M., Maguire-Baxter, J. and Friberg U. 2018. Sex differences in lifespan: females homozygous for the X chromosome do not suffer the shorter lifespan predicted by the unguarded X hypothesis. Evolution 72:568-577. Link to article.
46.

Erkosar, B., Yashiro, E., Zajitschek, F., Friberg, U., Maklakov, A.A., van der Meer, J.R. and Kawecki, T.J. 2018. Host diet mediates a negative relationship between abundance and diversity of Drosophila gut microbiota. Ecology and Evolution 8:9491-9502. Link to article.
45.

Gavrilets, S., Friberg, U. and Rice, W.R. 2018. Understanding homosexuality: moving on from patterns to mechanisms. Archives of Sexual Behavior 47:27-31. Link to article.
44. Maklakov, A.A. and Friberg, U. 2016. Ageing: Why Males Curtail Longevity of Their Mates. Current Biology 26:R929-R932. Link to article.
43. Griffin, R.M., Schielzeth, H. and Friberg U. 2016. Autosomal and X linked additive genetic variation in lifespan and aging: comparisons within and between the sexes in Drosophila melanogaster. G36:3903-3911. Link to article.
42. Johnsson, M., Gering, E., Willis, P., Lopez, S., Van Dorp, L., Hellenthal, G., Henriksen, R., Friberg, U. and Wright, D. 2016. Feralisation targets different genomics loci to domestication in the chicken. Nature Communications 7:12950. Link to article.
41. Friberg, U. 2016. Två kön och många organ - men bara en arvsmassa. Svensk Psykiatri 4:28-29. Link to article.
40. Zajitschek, F., Zajitschek, S.R.K., Canton, C., Georgolopoulos, G., Friberg, U. and Maklakov. A.A. 2016. Evolution under dietary restriction increases male reproductive performance without survival cost. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 283:1825. Link to article.
39.

Rice, W.R., Friberg, U. and Gavrilets, S. 2016. Sexually antagonistic epigenetic marks that canalize sexually dimorphic development. Molecular Ecology 25:1812-1822. Link to article.
38.
 Griffin, R.M., De Gall, D., Schielzeth, H. and Friberg U. 2015. Within-population Y-linked genetic variation for lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 28:1940-1947. Link to article.
37. Pischedda, A., Friberg, U., Stewart, A.D., Miller, P.M. and Rice, W.R. 2015. Sexual selection has minimal impact on effective population sizes in species with high rates of random offspring mortality: an empirical demonstration using fitness distributions. Evolution 69:2639-2647. Link to article.
36. Maklakov, A.A., Rowe, L. and Friberg, U. 2015. Why organisms age: evolution of senescence under positive pleiotropy. Bioessays 37:802-807. Link to article.
35. Stocks, M., Dean, R., Rogell, B. and Friberg, U. 2015. Sex-specific trans-regulatory variation on the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome. PLoS Genetics 11(2): e1005015. Link to article.
34. Friberg, U. and Rice, W.R. 2015. Sexually-Antagonistic Zygotic Drive: a new form of genetic conflict between the sex chromosomes. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 7:a017608. Link to article.
33. Griffin, R.M., Dean, R., Grace, J.L. and Friberg, U. 2013. The shared genome is a pervasive constraint on the evolution of sex-biased gene expression. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30:2168-2176. Link to article.
32. Lehtovaara, A., Schielzeth, H., Flis, I. and Friberg, U. 2013. Heritability of lifespan is largely sex-limited in fruit flies. American Naturalist 182:653-665. Link to article.
31. Rice, W.R., Friberg, U. and Gavrilets, S. 2013. Homosexuality via canalized sexual development: A testing protocol for a new epigenetic model. Bioessays 35:764-70. Link to article.
30. Zajitschek, F., Zajitschek, S.R.K., Friberg, U. and Maklakov. A.A. 2013. Interactive effects of sex, social environment, dietary restriction and methionine on survival and reproduction in fruit flies. AGE 35:1193-1204. Link to article.
29. Bourgoin, L., Friberg, U. and Maklakov, A.A. 2013. Intersexual correlation for same-sex behaviour in an insect. Animal Behaviour 85:759-762. Link to article.
28. Maklakov, A.A, Immler, S., Loveli, H., Flis, I. and Friberg, U. 2013. The effect of sexual harassment on lethal mutation rate in female Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 280:20121874. Link to article.
27. Rice, W.R. Friberg, U. and Gavrilets, S. 2012. Homosexuality as a consequence of epigenetically canalized sexual development. Quarterly Review of Biology87:343-368. Link to article.
26. Friberg, U. Stewart, A.D. and Rice, W.R. 2012. X and Y chromosome linked paternal effects on a life history trait. BiologyLetters8: 71-73.Link to article.
25. Friberg, U. Stewart, A.D. and Rice, W.R. 2011. Empirical evidence for son-killing X chromosomes and the operation of SA-zygotic drive. PLoSONE6(8):e23508.Link to article.
24. Bailey, R.I., Innocenti, P., Morrow, E.H., Friberg, U. and Qvarnström, A. 2011. Female Drosophila melanogastergene expression and mate choice: the X chromosome harbours candidate genes underlying sexual isolation. PLoS ONE 6(2):e17358. Link to article.
23. Friberg, U., Miller, P.M., Stewart, A.D. and Rice, W.R. 2011. Mechanisms promoting the long-term persistence of a Wolbachia infection in a laboratory-adapted population of Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE 6(1):e16448. Link to article.
22. Rice, W.R., Gavrilets, S. and Friberg, U. 2010. The evolution of sex-specific grandparental harm. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 277:2727-2735. Link to article.
21. Rice, W.R., Gavrilets, S. and Friberg, U. 2009. Sexually antagonistic chromosomal cuckoos. Biology Letters 5:686-688. Link to article.
20. Dowling, D.K., Maklakov, A.A., Friberg, U. and Hailer, F. 2009. Applying the genetic theories of ageing to the cytoplasm: cytoplasmic genetic covariation for fitness and lifespan. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22:818-827. Link to article.
19. Rice, W.R. and Friberg, U. 2009. The adaptive consequences of clonal reproduction and the efficacy of group selection. In: Schoen, I. Martens, K. and van Dijk, P. (eds.) Lost Sex - The Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogenesis. Springer Press.
18. Bilde, T., Maklakov, A.A., de la Guardia, L., Meisner, K. and Friberg, U. 2009. Sex differences in the genetic architecture of a life history trait: extreme inbreeding increases male lifespan in a seed beetle. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:33. Link to article.
17. Rice, W.R., Gavrilets, S. and Friberg, U. 2008. Sexually antagonistic ‘zygotic drive’ of the sex chromosomes. PLoS Genetics4(12):e1000313. Link to article.
16. Bilde, T., Friberg, U., Maklakov, A.A., Fry, J.D. and Arnqvist, G. 2008. The genetic architecture of fitness in a seed beetle: assessing the potential for indirect genetic benefits of female choice. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:295. Link to article.
15.

Friberg, U. and Dowling, D.K. 2008. No evidence for mitochondrial genetic variation for sperm competition within a population of Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21:1798–1807. Link to article.
14. Friberg, U. and Rice, W.R. 2008. Cut thy Neighbor: Cyclic birth and death of recombination hotspots via genetic conflict. Genetics 179:2229–2238. Link to article.
13. Dowling, D.K., Friberg, U. and Lindell, J. 2008. Evolutionary implications of non-neutral mitochondrial genetic variation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23:546-554. Link to article.
12. Rice, W.R. and Friberg, U. 2008. Functionally degenerate - Y not so? Science 319:42-43. Link to article.
11. Rice, W.R. and Friberg, U. 2007. Genomic clues to an ancient asexual scandal. Genome Biology 8:232. Link to article.
10. Dowling, D.K., Friberg, U. and Arnqvist, G. 2007. A comparison of nuclear and cytoplasmic genetic effects on sperm competitiveness and female remating in a seed beetle. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20:2113-2125. Link to article.
9. Dowling, D.K., Friberg, U., Hailer, F. and Arnqvist, G. 2007. Intergenomic epistasis for fitness: within-population interactions between cytoplasmic and nuclear genes in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 175: 235-244. Link to article.
8.

Maklakov, A.A., Friberg, U. Dowling, D. and Arnqvist, G. 2006. Within-population variation in cytoplasmic genes affects female lifespan and ageing in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 60:2081-2086. Link to article.
7. Friberg, U. 2006. Male perception of female mating status: its effect on copulation duration, male sperm defence and female fitness in Drosophila melanogaster. AnimalBehaviour 72: 1259-1268. Link to article.
6. Friberg, U., Lew, T.A., Byrne, P.G. and Rice, W.R. 2005. Assessing the potential for an ongoing arms race within and between the sexes: selection and heritable variation. Evolution 59:1540-1551. Link to article.
5. Friberg, U. 2005. Genetic variation in male and female reproductive characters associated with sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster. Behavior Genetics 35:455-462. Link to article.
4. Rice, W.R., Linder, J.E., Friberg, U., Lew, T.A., Morrow, E.H. and Stewart, A.D. 2005. Inter-locus antagonistic coevolution as an engine of speciation: Assessment with hemiclonal analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA102, (Suppl.1):6527-6534. Link to article.
3. Friberg, U. and Arnqvist, G. 2003. Fitness effects of female mate choice: preferred males are detrimental for Drosophila melanogaster females. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16:797-811. Link to article.
2. Gavrilets, S., Arnqvist, G. and Friberg, U. 2001. The evolution of female mate choice by sexual conflict. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 268:531-539. Link to article.
1. Arnqvist, G., Edvardsson, M., Friberg, U. and Nilsson, T. 2000. Sexual conflict promotes speciation in insects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 97:10460-10464. Link to article.

Research group

fruit flies

Evolutionary genetics of ageing and sex differences - Friberg Group

Research in our group focuses on two fascinating biological phenomena – ageing and sex differences - and their interesting intersection. To answer questions related to these topics we conduct research using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster.

News

Logo Swedish research council.

10-vr-grants-to-researchers-at-ifm-

Two of the grants were starting grants and eight were research project grants.
Fruit fly close up.

Ageing neutralises sex differences in the brain

When male and female fruit flies age, their brains become desexualized. This is the conclusion of a study performed by a research group at Linköping University.
Martin Iinatti Brengdahl examining fruit flies in a microscope.

Mutations that affect ageing – more common than we thought?

The number of mutations that can contribute to ageing may be significantly higher than previously believed, according to new research on fruit flies. The study supports a new theory about the type of mutation that can lie behind ageing.

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