Position

Professor of Genetics, Department of Genetics

Education

Bachelor in Biological Sciences, University of Valencia, 1979
Master thesis in Biological Sciences, University of Valencia, 1980
PhD in Genetics, University of Valencia, 1986

Research interests

Molecular evolution
Genome annotation and comparative genomics
Intracellular bacterial symbiosis
Genome size reduction and minimal genome content
Gene-order phylogenetics

 

Professional Experience

2009-present Professor of Genetics University of Valencia (Spain)

1992-2009 Associate Professor of Genetics University of Valencia (Spain)
1989-1992 Assistant Professor of Genetics, University of Valencia (Spain)
1988-1989 Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Lund (Sweden)
1987-1988 Assistant Professor of Genetics, University of Valencia (Spain)

Recent publications

Belda, E., A. Moya, S. Bentley, and F. J. Silva. 2010. Mobile genetic element proliferation and gene inactivation impact over the genome structure and metabolic capabilities of Sodalis glossinidius, the secondary endosymbiont of tsetse flies. BMC Genomics 11:449.
Han, X. Y., K. C. Sizer, E. J. Thompson, J. Kabanja, J. Li, P. Hu, L. Gomez-Valero, and F. J. Silva. 2009. Comparative sequence analysis of Mycobacterium leprae and the new leprosy-causing Mycobacterium lepromatosis. J. Bacteriol. 191:6067-6074.
Gil, R., E. Belda, M. J. Gosalbes, L. Delaye, A. Vallier, C. Vincent-Monegat, A. Heddi, F. J. Silva, A. Moya, and A. Latorre. 2008. Massive presence of insertion sequences in the genome of SOPE, the primary endosymbiont of the rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae. Int. Microbiol. 11:41-48.
Gomez-Valero, L., A. Latorre, R. Gil, J. Gadau, H. Feldhaar, and F. J. Silva. 2008. Patterns and rates of nucleotide substitution, insertion and deletion in the endosymbiont of ants Blochmannia floridanus. Mol. Ecol. 17:4382-4392.
Gomez-Valero, L., F. J. Silva, J. C. Simon, and A. Latorre. 2007. Genome reduction of the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola in a recent evolutionary time scale. Gene 389:87-95.
Gomez-Valero, L., E. P. C. Rocha, A. Latorre, and F. J. Silva. 2007. Reconstructing the ancestor of Mycobacterium leprae: The dynamics of gene loss and genome reduction. Genome Res. 17:1178-1185.
Tamames, J., R. Gil, A. Latorre, J. Pereto, F. J. Silva, and A. Moya. 2007. The frontier between cell and organelle: genome analysis of Candidatus Carsonella ruddii. BMC Evol. Biol. 7:181.
Delmotte, F., C. Rispe, J. Schaber, F. J. Silva, and A. Moya. 2006. Tempo and mode of early gene loss in endosymbiotic bacteria from insects. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6.
Gaudermann, P., I. Vogl, E. Zientz, F. J. Silva, A. Moya, R. Gross, and T. Dandekar. 2006. Analysis of and function predictions for previously conserved hypothetical or putative proteins in Blochmannia floridanus. BMC Microbiol. 6.
Gil, R., B. Sabater-Munoz, V. Perez-Brocal, F. J. Silva, and A. Latorre. 2006. Plasmids in the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola with the smallest genomes. A puzzling evolutionary story. Gene 370:17-25.
Perez-Brocal, V., R. Gil, S. Ramos, A. Lamelas, M. Postigo, J. M. Michelena, F. J. Silva, A. Moya, and A. Latorre . 2006. A small microbial genome: The end of a long symbiotic relationship? Science 314:312-313.
Silva, F. J., E. Belda, and S. E. Talens. 2006. Differential annotation of tRNA genes with anticodon CAT in bacterial genomes. Nucleic Acids Res. 34:6015-6022.
Belda, E., A. Moya, and F. J. Silva. 2005. Genome rearrangement distances and gene order phylogeny in gamma-proteobacteria. Mol. Biol. Evol. 22:1456-1467.
Latorre, A., R. Gil, F. J. Silva, and A. Moya. 2005. Chromosomal stasis versus plasmid plasticity in aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola. Heredity 95:339-347.
Schaber, J., C. Rispe, J. Wernegreen, A. Buness, F. Delmotte, F. J. Silva, and A. Moya. 2005. Gene expression levels influence amino acid usage and evolutionary rates in endosymbiotic bacteria. Gene 352:109-117.
Belda, E., V. Sentandreu, and F. J. Silva. 2004. Identification and separation of PCR products based on their GC content by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography. J. Chromatogr. B Analyt. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci. 811:263-268.
Gil, R., F. J. Silva, J. Pereto, and A. Moya. 2004. Determination of the core of a minimal bacterial gene set. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68:518
Gomez-Valero, L., A. Latorre, and F. J. Silva. 2004. The evolutionary fate of nonfunctional DNA in the bacterial endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola. Mol. Biol. Evol. 21:2172-2181.
Sabater-Munoz, B., R. C. H. J. Van Ham, A. Moya, F. J. Silva, and A. Latorre. 2004. Evolution of the leucine gene cluster in Buchnera aphidicola: Insights from chromosomal versions of the cluster. J. Bacteriol. 186:2646-2654.
Gil, R., F. J. Silva, E. Zientz, F. Delmotte, F. Gonzalez-Candelas, A. Latorre, C. Rausell, J. Kamerbeek, J. Gadau, B. Holldobler, R. C. H. J. Van Ham, R. Gross, and A. Moya. 2003. The genome sequence of Blochmannia floridanus: Comparative analysis of reduced genomes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100:9388-9393.
Latorre, A., R. Gil, F. J. Silva, D. Martinez-Torres, and A. Moya. 2003. Tempo and mode of genomic evolution in endosymbiotic bacteria of insects: The case of Buchnera aphidicola. Symbiosis 34:301-316.
Silva, F. J., A. Latorre, and A. Moya. 2003. Why are the genomes of endosymbiotic bacteria so stable? Trends Genet. 19:176-180.
Van Ham, R. C. H. J., J. Kamerbeek, C. Palacios, C. Rausell, F. Abascal, U. Bastolla, J. M. Fernandez, L. Jimenez, M. Postigo, F. J. Silva, J. Tamames, E. Viguera, A. Latorre, A. Valencia, F. Moran, and A. Moya. 2003. Reductive genome evolution in Buchnera aphidicola. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100:581-586.
Gil, R., B. Sabater-Munoz, A. Latorre, F. J. Silva, and A. Moya. 2002. Extreme genome reduction in Buchnera spp.: Toward the minimal genome needed for symbiotic life. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99:4454-4458.
Moya, A., A. Latorre, B. Sabater-Munoz, and F. J. Silva. 2002. Comparative molecular evolution of primary (Buchnera) and secondary symbionts of aphids based on two protein-coding genes. J. Mol. Evol. 55:127-137.
Sabater-Munoz, B., L. Gomez-Valero, R. C. H. J. Van Ham, F. J. Silva, and A. Latorre. 2002. Molecular characterization of the leucine cluster in Buchnera sp strain PSY, a primary endosymbiont of the aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:2572-2575.
Sabater, B., R. C. H. J. Van Ham, D. Martinez-Torres, F. Silva, A. Latorre, and A. Moya. 2001. Molecular evolution of aphids and their primary (Buchnera sp.) and secondary endosymbionts: Implications for the role of symbiosis in insect evolution. Interciencia 26:508-+.
Silva, F. J., A. Latorre, and A. Moya. 2001. Genome size reduction through multiple events of gene disintegration in Buchnera APS. Trends Genet. 17:615-618.
Zientz, E., F. J. Silva, and R. Gross. 2001. Genome interdependence in insect-bacterium symbioses. Genome Biol. 2:REVIEWS1032.

Degrees Supervised (last years)

2000 Master Thesis Jiménez, N.
2000 Master Thesis Soler, T. (codirector Dr. A. Latorre)
2002 Ph D Sabater-Muñoz, B. (codirector Dr. A. Latorre)
2004 Master Thesis Goméz-Valero, L. (codirector Dr. A. Latorre)
2005 Master Thesis Belda, E. (codirector Dr. A. Moya)
2007 Ph D Goméz-Valero, L. (codirector Dr. A. Latorre)
2010 Ph D Belda, E. (codirector Dr. A. Moya)

 

Teaching (last five years)

In Biological Sciences Degree (University of Valencia, Spain)
Genetics
Molecular Evolution

PhD courses in the programs Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics AND Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (University of Valencia, Spain)

Molecular techniques applied to the study of biodiversity
Molecular markers applied to the study of biodiversity
Nucleic acid and protein sequence analysis

Postgraduate and Master courses
Genomics and Proteomics. Biophysical Perspectives (5th short course of the Portuguese Biophysical Society) Santarém (Portugal) 2003

Workshop on Bacterial Genomics organized by the British Council and the University of Valencia (Valencia, 2005)

Master in Biodiversity: Conservation and Evolution:

Techniques for the study of Biodiversity

Comparative genomics

Master in Molecular Biology, Celular Biology and Genetics:

Bioinformatics

Comparative genomics

 

 

Other university positions

Member of the Doctoral Commission (University of Valencia, Spain) (1997-2006)

Coordinator of Innovation (Second Course Biology) (University of Valencia) (2006-2010)

Director of de Master in Molecular Biology, Celular Biology and Genetics (Univ. Valencia) (2008-2011)

 

 

Mailing address

            Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva
            Universitat de València
            Apartat de Correus 22085
            46071 - València
            Spain

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Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva
Edifici Instituts d'Investigació. Universitat de València
C/ Catedrático José Beltrán nº 2
46980 Paterna València (Spain).’

instead of postal address above.
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