SEX-NGS

"Sex-linked loci, sexual specialization and local adaptation in Mercurialis annua complex"

 Coordinatore UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE 

 Organization address city: LAUSANNE
postcode: 1015

contact info
Titolo: Prof.
Nome: John
Cognome: Pannell
Email: send email
Telefono: +41 21 6924170
Fax: +41 21 6924265

 Nazionalità Coordinatore Switzerland [CH]
 Totale costo 149˙545 €
 EC contributo 149˙545 €
 Programma FP7-PEOPLE
Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
 Code Call FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
 Funding Scheme MC-IEF
 Anno di inizio 2013
 Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) 2013-07-01   -   2014-08-31

 Partecipanti

# participant  country  role  EC contrib. [€] 
1    UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE

 Organization address city: LAUSANNE
postcode: 1015

contact info
Titolo: Prof.
Nome: John
Cognome: Pannell
Email: send email
Telefono: +41 21 6924170
Fax: +41 21 6924265

CH (LAUSANNE) coordinator 149˙545.78

Mappa

Leaflet | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA, Imagery © Mapbox

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

variation    evolve    reproduction    plants    sexual    sex    mercurialis    questions    transmitted    generations    mating    climate    inbreeding    annua    genes    broad    expansion    environments    ngs    probably    separate    maintained    populations    genetic    model    evolution    vs    species    diversity    changing    contribution    local    adapt    sexes    ability    plant    group    edge    outcrossing   

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The sexual and genetic systems of a plant species directly regulate how genes are transmitted across generations. Accordingly, their study is of central importance to understand plant evolution. Populations of widespread plants normally have higher fitness at their home site than in other parts of the range. However, the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying local adaptation are not well understood yet. How do plant populations adapt to a rapidly changing world? Why and how separate sexes evolve and are maintained in plants? What are the consequences of broad variation in sexual systems for plant survival at different spatial scales (local, widerange)? I will conduct innovative and multidisciplinary research, using state-of-the-art sequencing technology, to investigate how natural selection brings about local adaptation in plant populations with contrasting sexual (separate vs. combined sexes) and genetic (diploidy vs. polyploidy) systems. To address these questions, I will study the ecological genomics of local adaptation in the Mercurialis annua s.l. species complex. This species complex shows an unusually broad variation in its sexual and genetic systems, as well as large phenotypic geographical variation, thus providing an outstanding model to study, at the genomic level, the role of mating and genetic factors on local adaptation. My pursuit of these objectives will make a substantive contribution to high-level science, as this project will shed light on some fundamental questions in plant sexual evolution (e.g. the genetic control of sexual-system transitions) and, more generally, on how plants adapt to rapidly changing environments. Additionally, this project will provide a profitable training opportunity at a critical period in my career. Born in 1972, I am a junior group leader who, if properly trained to boost my capacities, will be able to develop influential cross-disciplinary research and to consolidate a European Research Area excellence group.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Researchers are investigating how a plant's sexual reproduction system influences its evolution and ability to adapt to rapidly changing environments.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

When plants expand their geographic ranges and encounter new habitats, genetic changes occur as they are forced to adapt to new conditions. This ability to adapt to a changing environment is particularly important in the face of global climate change.

The EU-funded SEX-NGS (Sex-linked loci, sexual specialization and local adaptation in Mercurialis annua complex) project aimed to determine how plants' sexual reproduction systems affect their ability to adapt to rapidly changing environments.

How genes are transmitted across generations depends on the sexual reproduction system of the plant. With 'inbred' systems, offspring produced by closely related parents (where both sexual organs are usually present on the same plant) have little genetic variation. Alternatively, sexual systems that allow 'outcrossing' encourage genetic variation through the mating of two separate, genetically diverse male and female parent plants.

SEX-NGS used the annual herb Mercurialis annua, which is capable of reproducing by both inbreeding and outcrossing, as a model to study genetic adaptation. Researchers looked at how its genes have changed during the range expansion from its origin in the eastern Mediterranean through France and to the United Kingdom.

Using cutting-edge genetic analyses, they found that plants near the expansion front had lower genetic diversity compared with ancestral populations, probably due to inbreeding. However, enough genetic diversity remained for this species to evolve and adapt to the new environments it encountered as it colonised Europe.

Genetic diversity was probably maintained through outcrossing of range-edge plants with plants from elsewhere, highlighting the contribution of separate sexes to adaptation.

The techniques developed during this project are now being applied to study important commercial species like the staple food manioc and the biofuel crop Jatropha. Comparing genes across these species will provide valuable insights into how the plants will adapt to stresses like drought and disease under impending climate change.

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