Understanding horse speciation and domestication through comparative palaeogenomics

Objective

Horses have played a critical role in human societies, warfare and for facilitating the exploration of novel territories. In addition, the rich fossil record of the horse family over the past 55 million years has made it an icon for the patterns and processes of macroevolution. However, most horses have become extinct in the wild precluding direct comparison of domestic and wild horse genomes to understand the processes of domestication and speciation. Here, I propose to use state-of-the-art ancient DNA methods in combination with 2nd and 3rd generation sequencing technologies to characterize the complete genomes of the modern donkey, the Przewalski's horse and of two Pleistocene horses, dating back to more than 12,000 years ago. Through comparative genomics, these genomes will deliver the sequence of all horse genes before humans started breed selection and will identify the genetic changes that occurred in the course of the domestication process. In addition, direct comparison between the genomes of the Przewalski's horse and those of pre-domestic Pleistocene horses will clarify the conservation status of this highly endangered horse. While promising to supersede 2nd generation approaches, no 3rd generation sequencing technology has been so far used in ancient DNA context. This project is the first exploring the potential of 3rd generation approaches for ancient DNA, which could open access to a whole range of fossils previously considered as devoid of any trace of DNA. At the genetic level, the domestication process has never previously been studied through the merger of ancient and modern genome-wide data. Therefore, this project represents an unprecedented attempt to understand the dynamics of genomic changes over time in relation with animal domestication.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG - Marie-Curie Action: "Career Integration Grants"

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-CIG - Support for training and career development of researcher (CIG)

Coordinator