Project acronym 2SEXES_1GENOME
Project Sex-specific genetic effects on fitness and human disease
Researcher (PI) Edward Hugh Morrow
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2011-StG_20101109
Summary Darwin’s theory of natural selection rests on the principle that fitness variation in natural populations has a heritable component, on which selection acts, thereby leading to evolutionary change. A fundamental and so far unresolved question for the field of evolutionary biology is to identify the genetic loci responsible for this fitness variation, thereby coming closer to an understanding of how variation is maintained in the face of continual selection. One important complicating factor in the search for fitness related genes however is the existence of separate sexes – theoretical expectations and empirical data both suggest that sexually antagonistic genes are common. The phrase “two sexes, one genome” nicely sums up the problem; selection may favour alleles in one sex, even if they have detrimental effects on the fitness of the opposite sex, since it is their net effect across both sexes that determine the likelihood that alleles persist in a population. This theoretical framework raises an interesting, and so far entirely unexplored issue: that in one sex the functional performance of some alleles is predicted to be compromised and this effect may account for some common human diseases and conditions which show genotype-sex interactions. I propose to explore the genetic basis of sex-specific fitness in a model organism in both laboratory and natural conditions and to test whether those genes identified as having sexually antagonistic effects can help explain the incidence of human diseases that display sexual dimorphism in prevalence, age of onset or severity. This multidisciplinary project directly addresses some fundamental unresolved questions in evolutionary biology: the genetic basis and maintenance of fitness variation; the evolution of sexual dimorphism; and aims to provide novel insights into the genetic basis of some common human diseases.
Summary
Darwin’s theory of natural selection rests on the principle that fitness variation in natural populations has a heritable component, on which selection acts, thereby leading to evolutionary change. A fundamental and so far unresolved question for the field of evolutionary biology is to identify the genetic loci responsible for this fitness variation, thereby coming closer to an understanding of how variation is maintained in the face of continual selection. One important complicating factor in the search for fitness related genes however is the existence of separate sexes – theoretical expectations and empirical data both suggest that sexually antagonistic genes are common. The phrase “two sexes, one genome” nicely sums up the problem; selection may favour alleles in one sex, even if they have detrimental effects on the fitness of the opposite sex, since it is their net effect across both sexes that determine the likelihood that alleles persist in a population. This theoretical framework raises an interesting, and so far entirely unexplored issue: that in one sex the functional performance of some alleles is predicted to be compromised and this effect may account for some common human diseases and conditions which show genotype-sex interactions. I propose to explore the genetic basis of sex-specific fitness in a model organism in both laboratory and natural conditions and to test whether those genes identified as having sexually antagonistic effects can help explain the incidence of human diseases that display sexual dimorphism in prevalence, age of onset or severity. This multidisciplinary project directly addresses some fundamental unresolved questions in evolutionary biology: the genetic basis and maintenance of fitness variation; the evolution of sexual dimorphism; and aims to provide novel insights into the genetic basis of some common human diseases.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym ABYSS
Project ABYSS - Assessment of bacterial life and matter cycling in deep-sea surface sediments
Researcher (PI) Antje Boetius
Host Institution (HI) ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2011-ADG_20110310
Summary The deep-sea floor hosts a distinct microbial biome covering 67% of the Earth’s surface, characterized by cold temperatures, permanent darkness, high pressure and food limitation. The surface sediments are dominated by bacteria, with on average a billion cells per ml. Benthic bacteria are highly relevant to the Earth’s element cycles as they remineralize most of the organic matter sinking from the productive surface ocean, and return nutrients, thereby promoting ocean primary production. What passes the bacterial filter is a relevant sink for carbon on geological time scales, influencing global oxygen and carbon budgets, and fueling the deep subsurface biosphere. Despite the relevance of deep-sea sediment bacteria to climate, geochemical cycles and ecology of the seafloor, their genetic and functional diversity, niche differentiation and biological interactions remain unknown. Our preliminary work in a global survey of deep-sea sediments enables us now to target specific genes for the quantification of abyssal bacteria. We can trace isotope-labeled elements into communities and single cells, and analyze the molecular alteration of organic matter during microbial degradation, all in context with environmental dynamics recorded at the only long-term deep-sea ecosystem observatory in the Arctic that we maintain. I propose to bridge biogeochemistry, ecology, microbiology and marine biology to develop a systematic understanding of abyssal sediment bacterial community distribution, diversity, function and interactions, by combining in situ flux studies and different visualization techniques with a wide range of molecular tools. Substantial progress is expected in understanding I) identity and function of the dominant types of indigenous benthic bacteria, II) dynamics in bacterial activity and diversity caused by variations in particle flux, III) interactions with different types and ages of organic matter, and other biological factors.
Summary
The deep-sea floor hosts a distinct microbial biome covering 67% of the Earth’s surface, characterized by cold temperatures, permanent darkness, high pressure and food limitation. The surface sediments are dominated by bacteria, with on average a billion cells per ml. Benthic bacteria are highly relevant to the Earth’s element cycles as they remineralize most of the organic matter sinking from the productive surface ocean, and return nutrients, thereby promoting ocean primary production. What passes the bacterial filter is a relevant sink for carbon on geological time scales, influencing global oxygen and carbon budgets, and fueling the deep subsurface biosphere. Despite the relevance of deep-sea sediment bacteria to climate, geochemical cycles and ecology of the seafloor, their genetic and functional diversity, niche differentiation and biological interactions remain unknown. Our preliminary work in a global survey of deep-sea sediments enables us now to target specific genes for the quantification of abyssal bacteria. We can trace isotope-labeled elements into communities and single cells, and analyze the molecular alteration of organic matter during microbial degradation, all in context with environmental dynamics recorded at the only long-term deep-sea ecosystem observatory in the Arctic that we maintain. I propose to bridge biogeochemistry, ecology, microbiology and marine biology to develop a systematic understanding of abyssal sediment bacterial community distribution, diversity, function and interactions, by combining in situ flux studies and different visualization techniques with a wide range of molecular tools. Substantial progress is expected in understanding I) identity and function of the dominant types of indigenous benthic bacteria, II) dynamics in bacterial activity and diversity caused by variations in particle flux, III) interactions with different types and ages of organic matter, and other biological factors.
Max ERC Funding
3 375 693 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym ADaPTIVE
Project Analysing Diversity with a Phenomic approach: Trends in Vertebrate Evolution
Researcher (PI) Anjali Goswami
Host Institution (HI) NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2014-STG
Summary What processes shape vertebrate diversity through deep time? Approaches to this question can focus on many different factors, from life history and ecology to large-scale environmental change and extinction. To date, the majority of studies on the evolution of vertebrate diversity have focused on relatively simple metrics, specifically taxon counts or univariate measures, such as body size. However, multivariate morphological data provides a more complete picture of evolutionary and palaeoecological change. Morphological data can also bridge deep-time palaeobiological analyses with studies of the genetic and developmental factors that shape variation and must also influence large-scale patterns of evolutionary change. Thus, accurately reconstructing the patterns and processes underlying evolution requires an approach that can fully represent an organism’s phenome, the sum total of their observable traits.
Recent advances in imaging and data analysis allow large-scale study of phenomic evolution. In this project, I propose to quantitatively analyse the deep-time evolutionary diversity of tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). Specifically, I will apply and extend new imaging, morphometric, and analytical tools to construct a multivariate phenomic dataset for living and extinct tetrapods from 3-D scans. I will use these data to rigorously compare extinction selectivity, timing, pace, and shape of adaptive radiations, and ecomorphological response to large-scale climatic shifts across all tetrapod clades. To do so, I will quantify morphological diversity (disparity) and rates of evolution spanning over 300 million years of tetrapod history. I will further analyse the evolution of phenotypic integration by quantifying not just the traits themselves, but changes in the relationships among traits, which reflect the genetic, developmental, and functional interactions that shape variation, the raw material for natural selection.
Summary
What processes shape vertebrate diversity through deep time? Approaches to this question can focus on many different factors, from life history and ecology to large-scale environmental change and extinction. To date, the majority of studies on the evolution of vertebrate diversity have focused on relatively simple metrics, specifically taxon counts or univariate measures, such as body size. However, multivariate morphological data provides a more complete picture of evolutionary and palaeoecological change. Morphological data can also bridge deep-time palaeobiological analyses with studies of the genetic and developmental factors that shape variation and must also influence large-scale patterns of evolutionary change. Thus, accurately reconstructing the patterns and processes underlying evolution requires an approach that can fully represent an organism’s phenome, the sum total of their observable traits.
Recent advances in imaging and data analysis allow large-scale study of phenomic evolution. In this project, I propose to quantitatively analyse the deep-time evolutionary diversity of tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). Specifically, I will apply and extend new imaging, morphometric, and analytical tools to construct a multivariate phenomic dataset for living and extinct tetrapods from 3-D scans. I will use these data to rigorously compare extinction selectivity, timing, pace, and shape of adaptive radiations, and ecomorphological response to large-scale climatic shifts across all tetrapod clades. To do so, I will quantify morphological diversity (disparity) and rates of evolution spanning over 300 million years of tetrapod history. I will further analyse the evolution of phenotypic integration by quantifying not just the traits themselves, but changes in the relationships among traits, which reflect the genetic, developmental, and functional interactions that shape variation, the raw material for natural selection.
Max ERC Funding
1 482 818 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2020-05-31
Project acronym AdaptoSCOPE
Project Using cis-regulatory mutations to highlight polygenic adaptation in natural plant systems
Researcher (PI) Juliette de Meaux
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS8, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary The goal of this project is to demonstrate that novel aspects of the molecular basis of Darwinian adaptation can be discovered if the polygenic basis of adaptation is taken into account. This project will use the genome-wide distribution of cis-regulatory variants to discover the molecular pathways that are optimized during adaptation via accumulation of small effect mutations. Current approaches include scans for outlier genes with strong population genetics signatures of selection, or large effect QTL associating with fitness. They can only reveal a small subset of the molecular changes recruited along adaptive paths. Here, instead, the distribution of small effect mutations will be used to make inferences on the targets of polygenic adaptation across divergent populations in each of the two closely related species, A. thaliana and A. lyrata. These species are both found at diverse latitudes and show sign of local adaptation to climatic differences. Mutations affecting cis-regulation will be identified in leaves of plants exposed to various temperature regimes triggering phenotypic responses of adaptive relevance. Their distribution in clusters of functionally connected genes will be quantified. The phylogeographic differences in the distribution of the mutations will be used to disentangle neutral from adaptive clusters of functionally connected genes in each of the two species. This project will identify the molecular pathways subjected collectively to natural selection and provide a completely novel view on adaptive landscapes. It will further examine whether local adaptation occurs by convergent evolution of molecular systems in plants. This approach has the potential to find broad applications in ecology and agriculture.
Summary
The goal of this project is to demonstrate that novel aspects of the molecular basis of Darwinian adaptation can be discovered if the polygenic basis of adaptation is taken into account. This project will use the genome-wide distribution of cis-regulatory variants to discover the molecular pathways that are optimized during adaptation via accumulation of small effect mutations. Current approaches include scans for outlier genes with strong population genetics signatures of selection, or large effect QTL associating with fitness. They can only reveal a small subset of the molecular changes recruited along adaptive paths. Here, instead, the distribution of small effect mutations will be used to make inferences on the targets of polygenic adaptation across divergent populations in each of the two closely related species, A. thaliana and A. lyrata. These species are both found at diverse latitudes and show sign of local adaptation to climatic differences. Mutations affecting cis-regulation will be identified in leaves of plants exposed to various temperature regimes triggering phenotypic responses of adaptive relevance. Their distribution in clusters of functionally connected genes will be quantified. The phylogeographic differences in the distribution of the mutations will be used to disentangle neutral from adaptive clusters of functionally connected genes in each of the two species. This project will identify the molecular pathways subjected collectively to natural selection and provide a completely novel view on adaptive landscapes. It will further examine whether local adaptation occurs by convergent evolution of molecular systems in plants. This approach has the potential to find broad applications in ecology and agriculture.
Max ERC Funding
1 683 120 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym APGREID
Project Ancient Pathogen Genomics of Re-Emerging Infectious Disease
Researcher (PI) Johannes Krause
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary Here we propose a first step toward a direct reconstruction of the evolutionary history of human infectious disease agents by obtaining genome wide data of historic pathogens. Through an extensive screening of skeletal collections from well-characterized catastrophe, or emergency, mass burials we plan to detect and sequence pathogen DNA from various historic pandemics spanning at least 2,500 years using a general purpose molecular capture method that will screen for hundreds of pathogens in a single assay. Subsequent experiments will attempt to reconstruct full genomes from all pathogenic species identified. The molecular fossil record of human pathogens will provide insights into host adaptation and evolutionary rates of infectious disease. In addition, human genomic regions relating to disease susceptibility and immunity will be characterized in the skeletal material in order to observe the direct effect that pathogens have made on the genetic makeup of human populations over time. The results of this project will allow a multidisciplinary interpretation of historical pandemics that have influenced the course of human history. It will provide priceless information for the field of history, evolutionary biology, anthropology as well as medicine and will have direct consequences on how we manage emerging and re-emerging infectious disease in the future.
Summary
Here we propose a first step toward a direct reconstruction of the evolutionary history of human infectious disease agents by obtaining genome wide data of historic pathogens. Through an extensive screening of skeletal collections from well-characterized catastrophe, or emergency, mass burials we plan to detect and sequence pathogen DNA from various historic pandemics spanning at least 2,500 years using a general purpose molecular capture method that will screen for hundreds of pathogens in a single assay. Subsequent experiments will attempt to reconstruct full genomes from all pathogenic species identified. The molecular fossil record of human pathogens will provide insights into host adaptation and evolutionary rates of infectious disease. In addition, human genomic regions relating to disease susceptibility and immunity will be characterized in the skeletal material in order to observe the direct effect that pathogens have made on the genetic makeup of human populations over time. The results of this project will allow a multidisciplinary interpretation of historical pandemics that have influenced the course of human history. It will provide priceless information for the field of history, evolutionary biology, anthropology as well as medicine and will have direct consequences on how we manage emerging and re-emerging infectious disease in the future.
Max ERC Funding
1 474 560 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym ARCHADAPT
Project The architecture of adaptation to novel environments
Researcher (PI) Christian Werner Schlötterer
Host Institution (HI) VETERINAERMEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2011-ADG_20110310
Summary One of the central goals in evolutionary biology is to understand adaptation. Experimental evolution represents a highly promising approach to study adaptation. In this proposal, a freshly collected D. simulans population will be allowed to adapt to laboratory conditions under two different temperature regimes: hot (27°C) and cold (18°C). The trajectories of adaptation to these novel environments will be monitored on three levels: 1) genomic, 2) transcriptomic, 3) phenotypic. Allele frequency changes during the experiment will be measured by next generation sequencing of DNA pools (Pool-Seq) to identify targets of selection. RNA-Seq will be used to trace adaptation on the transcriptomic level during three developmental stages. Eight different phenotypes will be scored to measure the phenotypic consequences of adaptation. Combining the adaptive trajectories on these three levels will provide a picture of adaptation for a multicellular, outcrossing organism that is far more detailed than any previous results.
Furthermore, the proposal addresses the question of how adaptation on these three levels is reversible if the environment reverts to ancestral conditions. The third aspect of adaptation covered in the proposal is the question of repeatability of adaptation. Again, this question will be addressed on the three levels: genomic, transcriptomic and phenotypic. Using replicates with different degrees of genetic similarity, as well as closely related species, we will test how similar the adaptive response is.
This large-scale study will provide new insights into the importance of standing variation for the adaptation to novel environments. Hence, apart from providing significant evolutionary insights on the trajectories of adaptation, the results we will obtain will have important implications for conservation genetics and commercial breeding.
Summary
One of the central goals in evolutionary biology is to understand adaptation. Experimental evolution represents a highly promising approach to study adaptation. In this proposal, a freshly collected D. simulans population will be allowed to adapt to laboratory conditions under two different temperature regimes: hot (27°C) and cold (18°C). The trajectories of adaptation to these novel environments will be monitored on three levels: 1) genomic, 2) transcriptomic, 3) phenotypic. Allele frequency changes during the experiment will be measured by next generation sequencing of DNA pools (Pool-Seq) to identify targets of selection. RNA-Seq will be used to trace adaptation on the transcriptomic level during three developmental stages. Eight different phenotypes will be scored to measure the phenotypic consequences of adaptation. Combining the adaptive trajectories on these three levels will provide a picture of adaptation for a multicellular, outcrossing organism that is far more detailed than any previous results.
Furthermore, the proposal addresses the question of how adaptation on these three levels is reversible if the environment reverts to ancestral conditions. The third aspect of adaptation covered in the proposal is the question of repeatability of adaptation. Again, this question will be addressed on the three levels: genomic, transcriptomic and phenotypic. Using replicates with different degrees of genetic similarity, as well as closely related species, we will test how similar the adaptive response is.
This large-scale study will provide new insights into the importance of standing variation for the adaptation to novel environments. Hence, apart from providing significant evolutionary insights on the trajectories of adaptation, the results we will obtain will have important implications for conservation genetics and commercial breeding.
Max ERC Funding
2 452 084 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-07-01, End date: 2018-06-30
Project acronym AVIAN DIMORPHISM
Project The genomic and transcriptomic locus of sex-specific selection in birds
Researcher (PI) Judith Elizabeth Mank
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2010-StG_20091118
Summary It has long been understood that genes contribute to phenotypes that are then the basis of selection. However, the nature and process of this relationship remains largely theoretical, and the relative contribution of change in gene expression and coding sequence to phenotypic diversification is unclear. The aim of this proposal is to fuse information about sexually dimorphic phenotypes, the mating systems and sexually antagonistic selective agents that shape sexual dimorphism, and the sex-biased gene expression patterns that encode sexual dimorphisms, in order to create a cohesive integrated understanding of the relationship between evolution, the genome, and the animal form. The primary approach of this project is to harnesses emergent DNA sequencing technologies in order to measure evolutionary change in gene expression and coding sequence in response to different sex-specific selection regimes in a clade of birds with divergent mating systems. Sex-specific selection pressures arise in large part as a consequence of mating system, however males and females share nearly identical genomes, especially in the vertebrates where the sex chromosomes house very small proportions of the overall transcriptome. This single shared genome creates sex-specific phenotypes via different gene expression levels in females and males, and these sex-biased genes connect sexual dimorphisms, and the sexually antagonistic selection pressures that shape them, with the regions of the genome that encode them.
The Galloanserae (fowl and waterfowl) will be used to in the proposed project, as this clade combines the necessary requirements of both variation in mating systems and a well-conserved reference genome (chicken). The study species selected from within the Galloanserae for the proposal exhibit a range of sexual dimorphism and sperm competition, and this will be exploited with next generation (454 and Illumina) genomic and transcriptomic data to study the gene expression patterns that underlie sexual dimorphisms, and the evolutionary pressures acting on them. This work will be complemented by the development of mathematical models of sex-specific evolution that will be tested against the gene expression and gene sequence data in order to understand the mechanisms by which sex-specific selection regimes, arising largely from mating systems, shape the phenotype via the genome.
Summary
It has long been understood that genes contribute to phenotypes that are then the basis of selection. However, the nature and process of this relationship remains largely theoretical, and the relative contribution of change in gene expression and coding sequence to phenotypic diversification is unclear. The aim of this proposal is to fuse information about sexually dimorphic phenotypes, the mating systems and sexually antagonistic selective agents that shape sexual dimorphism, and the sex-biased gene expression patterns that encode sexual dimorphisms, in order to create a cohesive integrated understanding of the relationship between evolution, the genome, and the animal form. The primary approach of this project is to harnesses emergent DNA sequencing technologies in order to measure evolutionary change in gene expression and coding sequence in response to different sex-specific selection regimes in a clade of birds with divergent mating systems. Sex-specific selection pressures arise in large part as a consequence of mating system, however males and females share nearly identical genomes, especially in the vertebrates where the sex chromosomes house very small proportions of the overall transcriptome. This single shared genome creates sex-specific phenotypes via different gene expression levels in females and males, and these sex-biased genes connect sexual dimorphisms, and the sexually antagonistic selection pressures that shape them, with the regions of the genome that encode them.
The Galloanserae (fowl and waterfowl) will be used to in the proposed project, as this clade combines the necessary requirements of both variation in mating systems and a well-conserved reference genome (chicken). The study species selected from within the Galloanserae for the proposal exhibit a range of sexual dimorphism and sperm competition, and this will be exploited with next generation (454 and Illumina) genomic and transcriptomic data to study the gene expression patterns that underlie sexual dimorphisms, and the evolutionary pressures acting on them. This work will be complemented by the development of mathematical models of sex-specific evolution that will be tested against the gene expression and gene sequence data in order to understand the mechanisms by which sex-specific selection regimes, arising largely from mating systems, shape the phenotype via the genome.
Max ERC Funding
1 350 804 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2016-07-31
Project acronym BALDWINIAN_BEETLES
Project "The origin of the fittest: canalization, plasticity and selection as a consequence of provisioning during development"
Researcher (PI) Rebecca Kilner
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary "A major outstanding challenge for evolutionary biology is to explain how novel adaptations arise. We propose to test whether developmental plasticity initiates evolutionary change in morphological, behavioural and social traits, using laboratory experiments, fieldwork and comparative analyses.
Using burying beetles Nicrophorus spp as our model experimental system, we shall:
1) Test whether variation in parental provisioning during development induces correlated phenotypic change in adult body size and a suite of life history traits; whether these phenotypic changes can be genetically accommodated under experimental evolution (the Baldwin Effect); and whether changes induced by experimental evolution mimic natural variation in adult body size and life history strategy among Nicrophorus species;
2) Test whether parental provisioning has a canalizing effect on the developmental environment, potentially storing up cryptic genetic variation which might then be released as random new phenotypes, if offspring are exposed to a new developmental environment;
3) Investigate whether developmental trade-offs, induced by under-provisioning from parents, provide the first step towards the evolution of a novel interspecific mutualism. Is a second species recruited in adulthood to carry out the function of a structure that was under-nourished during development?
4) Using comparative analyses of data from the literature on insects, frogs, birds and mammals, we shall test whether the evolution of parental provisioning in a given lineage is positively correlated with the number of species in the lineage.
Our proposal is original in focusing on developmental plasticity induced by variation in parental provisioning. Given the diverse and numerous species that provision their young, including several whose genomes have now been sequenced, this potentially opens up a rich new area for future work on the developmental mechanisms underlying evolutionary innovations."
Summary
"A major outstanding challenge for evolutionary biology is to explain how novel adaptations arise. We propose to test whether developmental plasticity initiates evolutionary change in morphological, behavioural and social traits, using laboratory experiments, fieldwork and comparative analyses.
Using burying beetles Nicrophorus spp as our model experimental system, we shall:
1) Test whether variation in parental provisioning during development induces correlated phenotypic change in adult body size and a suite of life history traits; whether these phenotypic changes can be genetically accommodated under experimental evolution (the Baldwin Effect); and whether changes induced by experimental evolution mimic natural variation in adult body size and life history strategy among Nicrophorus species;
2) Test whether parental provisioning has a canalizing effect on the developmental environment, potentially storing up cryptic genetic variation which might then be released as random new phenotypes, if offspring are exposed to a new developmental environment;
3) Investigate whether developmental trade-offs, induced by under-provisioning from parents, provide the first step towards the evolution of a novel interspecific mutualism. Is a second species recruited in adulthood to carry out the function of a structure that was under-nourished during development?
4) Using comparative analyses of data from the literature on insects, frogs, birds and mammals, we shall test whether the evolution of parental provisioning in a given lineage is positively correlated with the number of species in the lineage.
Our proposal is original in focusing on developmental plasticity induced by variation in parental provisioning. Given the diverse and numerous species that provision their young, including several whose genomes have now been sequenced, this potentially opens up a rich new area for future work on the developmental mechanisms underlying evolutionary innovations."
Max ERC Funding
1 499 914 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31
Project acronym BARRIERS
Project The evolution of barriers to gene exchange
Researcher (PI) Roger BUTLIN
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Speciation is a central process in evolution that involves the origin of barriers to gene flow between populations. Species are typically isolated by several barriers and assembly of multiple barriers separating the same populations seems to be critical to the evolution of strong reproductive isolation. Barriers resulting from direct selection can become coincident through a process of coupling while reinforcement can add barrier traits that are not under direct selection. In the presence of gene flow, these processes are opposed by recombination. While recent research using the latest sequencing technologies has provided much increased knowledge of patterns of differentiation and the genetic basis of local adaptation, it has so far added little to understanding of the coupling and reinforcement processes.
In this project, I will focus on the accumulation of barriers to gene exchange and the processes underlying increasing reproductive isolation. I will use the power of natural contact zones, combined with novel manipulative experiments, to separate the processes that underlie patterns of differentiation and introgression. The Littorina saxatilis model system allows me to do this with both local replication and a contrast between distinct spatial contexts on a larger geographic scale. I will use modelling to determine how processes interact and to investigate the conditions most likely to promote coupling and reinforcement. Overall, the project will provide major new insights into the speciation process, particularly revealing the requirements for progress towards complete reproductive isolation.
Summary
Speciation is a central process in evolution that involves the origin of barriers to gene flow between populations. Species are typically isolated by several barriers and assembly of multiple barriers separating the same populations seems to be critical to the evolution of strong reproductive isolation. Barriers resulting from direct selection can become coincident through a process of coupling while reinforcement can add barrier traits that are not under direct selection. In the presence of gene flow, these processes are opposed by recombination. While recent research using the latest sequencing technologies has provided much increased knowledge of patterns of differentiation and the genetic basis of local adaptation, it has so far added little to understanding of the coupling and reinforcement processes.
In this project, I will focus on the accumulation of barriers to gene exchange and the processes underlying increasing reproductive isolation. I will use the power of natural contact zones, combined with novel manipulative experiments, to separate the processes that underlie patterns of differentiation and introgression. The Littorina saxatilis model system allows me to do this with both local replication and a contrast between distinct spatial contexts on a larger geographic scale. I will use modelling to determine how processes interact and to investigate the conditions most likely to promote coupling and reinforcement. Overall, the project will provide major new insights into the speciation process, particularly revealing the requirements for progress towards complete reproductive isolation.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 927 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym BathyBiome
Project The Symbiome of Bathymodiolus Mussels from Hydrothermal Vents: From the Genome
to the Environment
Researcher (PI) Nicole Dubilier
Host Institution (HI) MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS8, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary The discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977 was one of the most profound findings of the 20th century, revolutionizing our perception of energy sources fueling primary productivity on Earth. These ecosystems are based on chemosynthesis, that is the fixation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds as in photosynthesis, but using inorganic compounds such as sulfide, methane or hydrogen, as energy sources instead of sunlight. Hydrothermal vents support tremendous biomass and productivity of which the majority is generated through symbiotic microbe-animal associations. Bathymodiolus mussels are able to build extraordinarily large and productive communities at hydrothermal vents because they harbor symbiotic bacteria that use inorganic energy sources from the vent fluids to feed their hosts via carbon fixation. In addition to their beneficial symbionts, the mussels are infected by a novel bacterial parasite that exclusively invades and multiplies in their nuclei. In the work proposed here, I will use a wide array of tools that range from deep-sea in situ instruments to sophisticated molecular, 'omic' and imaging analyses to study the microbiome associated with Bathymodiolus mussels. The proposed
research bridges biogeochemistry, ecological and evolutionary biology, and molecular microbiology to develop a systematic understanding of the symbiotic interactions between microbes, their hosts, and their environment in one of the most extreme and fascinating habitats on Earth, hydrothermal vents.
Summary
The discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977 was one of the most profound findings of the 20th century, revolutionizing our perception of energy sources fueling primary productivity on Earth. These ecosystems are based on chemosynthesis, that is the fixation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds as in photosynthesis, but using inorganic compounds such as sulfide, methane or hydrogen, as energy sources instead of sunlight. Hydrothermal vents support tremendous biomass and productivity of which the majority is generated through symbiotic microbe-animal associations. Bathymodiolus mussels are able to build extraordinarily large and productive communities at hydrothermal vents because they harbor symbiotic bacteria that use inorganic energy sources from the vent fluids to feed their hosts via carbon fixation. In addition to their beneficial symbionts, the mussels are infected by a novel bacterial parasite that exclusively invades and multiplies in their nuclei. In the work proposed here, I will use a wide array of tools that range from deep-sea in situ instruments to sophisticated molecular, 'omic' and imaging analyses to study the microbiome associated with Bathymodiolus mussels. The proposed
research bridges biogeochemistry, ecological and evolutionary biology, and molecular microbiology to develop a systematic understanding of the symbiotic interactions between microbes, their hosts, and their environment in one of the most extreme and fascinating habitats on Earth, hydrothermal vents.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 122 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
