Project description
Altered gene expression following hybridisation: a potential path to novelty
Hybridisation, the crossing of two organisms from different species, can lead to expression of novel trait values or combinations. Hybridisation occurs in many species in nature, and thus likely plays an important role in evolution. Transgressive gene expression is the formation of transgressive (extreme) patterns of gene expression in hybrid populations relative to the patterns of gene expression in the parental species. These extreme gene expression phenotypes in hybrids could result from the breaking up of the co-inheritance of gene regulatory elements, but this remains to be tested. The EU-funded HybridExpress project will provide insights into the role of hybridisation in producing novel variation with a focus on transgressive gene expression using four independent hybrid lineages of the Italian sparrow.
Objective
Hybridization has been documented to the extent where its importance for generating evolutionary novelty can no longer be questioned. In spite of this, we lack an understanding of the evolution of regulation of gene expression in hybrids, and its role in hybridization derived novelty. Gene expression evolves in a stabilizing manner where cis(local)- and trans(distal) regulatory elements co-evolve. As hybridization breaks up co-inheritance of regulatory elements transgressive hybrid expression patterns, transcending the ranges of both parent species, may arise in spite of intermediate genome composition. I propose to leverage my finding of transgressive gene expression in a wild hybrid species and address how hybridization produces transgressive gene expression. This research will give insights into how hybridization can contribute to the arrival of the fittest, by producing novel variation that selection can act on.
Objectives:
1. To determine how regulation of gene expression in hybrids can produce evolutionary novelty
2. To unravel the roles of hybridization induced transposable element-releases, alterations of methylation and larger structural variants in hybrid specific gene expression
3. To uncover the role of gene expression in avian hybrid sterility.
I will use four independent hybrid lineages of the Italian sparrow and experimental F1 hybrids to achieve these ambitious goals. HybridExpress will i) Uncover how hybrid gene expression can transcend parental ranges, producing evolutionary novelty, ii) Contribute insights into how the variation selection acts on arises, iii) Increase our understanding of hybrid genotype-phenotype maps, and iv) Reveal the role of hybrid misexpression in reproductive isolation.
Interdisciplinary character: This proposal will make extensive use of genomic methods and hence overlaps to some degree with the LS2 panel, but as the question addressed is evolutionary I deem the proposal best suited for evaluation by the LS8 panel.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2021-COG
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22100 Lund
Sweden
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