Descrizione del progetto
Mappare l’evoluzione del genoma microbico
La comprensione dei meccanismi alla base dell’origine dei principali gruppi procariotici è ancora limitata. L’origine delle specie e dei taxa superiori fra i procarioti dovrebbe implicare interazioni ecologiche con l’ambiente, combinate con una variazione genetica naturale che comporta innovazioni genetiche e acquisizioni di geni specifici per ogni lignaggio. Tuttavia, gli studi filogenomici non sono in grado di prevedere il contenuto genico nel 99 % del genoma a causa del ruolo del trasferimento genico laterale. Il progetto eMicrobevol, finanziato dal CER, utilizzerà tutti i dati evolutivi offerti dai genomi (alberi dei geni, distribuzioni dei geni e distribuzioni delle ripartizioni fra serie di alberi) per mappare la storia della componente del 99 % dell’evoluzione dei genomi microbici e spiegare il ruolo del trasferimento genico laterale nell’origine dei taxa microbici superiori.
Obiettivo
From the primordial emergence of the earliest cells to the ongoing diversification of modern microbiota, the mechanisms that underlie the origin of major prokaryotic groups are still poorly understood. In principle, the origin of both species and higher taxa among prokaryotes should entail similar mechanisms — ecological interactions with the environment paired with natural genetic variation involving lineage-specific gene innovations and lineage-specific gene acquisitions. Because eukaryotes started out as a prokaryote lineage, the same holds true at the prokaryote-eukaryote transition. Prokaryotic higher taxa are currently circumscribed by phylogenomic studies encompassing 30-40 proteins for information processing that are universal to all genomes, or nearly so. The core is useful in taxonomy but comprises only about 1% of an average genome. It does not predict gene content in the remaining 99% of the genome, because of the role of lateral gene transfer (LGT) in generating diversity within and between prokaryotic groups. Especially in groups with large pangenomes or broad ecological diversity, the core itself does not reveal which gene innovations underlie the origin of major groups, but gene distributions might. This proposal aims to harness all the evolutionary data that genomes have to offer — gene trees, gene distributions, and split distributions across sets of trees — to chart the history of the 99% component of microbial genome evolution and the role of LGT in the origin of higher microbial taxa. The focus is on three important questions: i) What are the quantitative and lineage specific relative contributions of gene transfer from endosymbionts vs. gene transfers from other prokaryotes during eukaryotic genome evolution, ii) Are there significant differences in verticality in comparisons of genome evolution in prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes and how can we statistically better quantify them, and iii) What was the biological nature of the earliest prokaryotes.
Campo scientifico
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineeringgene therapy
- humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistory
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomesprokaryotic genomes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomeseukaryotic genomes
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantIstituzione ospitante
40225 Dusseldorf
Germania