Description du projet
L’ADN fossile fait la lumière sur la réponse évolutive à une nouvelle pression de sélection
Le séquençage de l’ADN à partir d’échantillons anciens espacés dans le temps permet de mieux comprendre les réponses évolutives aux changements écologiques et aux nouvelles pressions de sélection, en quantifiant les paramètres écologiques et génétiques recueillis le long de la ligne d’évolution. S’appuyant sur des expériences naturelles et des systèmes d’étude bien connus dans le domaine de l’évolution, le projet EXPLOAD financé par l’UE entend étudier l’adaptation parallèle à l’eau douce de l’épinoche à trois épines marine par le biais de l’augmentation de la fréquence des allèles associés à l’eau douce. Les rapides changements climatiques mondiaux actuels constituent de nouvelles pressions de sélection, et l’étude de la dynamique de la sélection naturelle permettra de mieux comprendre le sort potentiel de la biodiversité. L’application de l’approche paléogénomique aux échantillons, recueillis le long du continuum évolutif, permettra de déterminer si la sélection naturelle présente un coût mutationnel.
Objectif
DNA can survive millennia post-mortem, spanning ecological and evolutionary transitions and providing a unique window into the processes underlying biodiversity. As such sequencing ancient DNA from temporally spaced samples can allow the testing of hypotheses related to evolutionary responses to ecological change and novel selection pressures through direct quantification of ecological and genetic parameters collected before, during and after genetic changes in selection pressures. Here, I propose to do just this, taking advantage of a natural experiment of an emblematic study system in evolutionary biology: parallel independent adaptation to freshwater by marine-adapted threespine sticklebacks through the rise in frequency of freshwater-associated alleles. Utilising palaeogenomics to sample genomes along this evolutionary continuum and the project will address a key and long-standing question: is there a mutational cost to natural selection? This is a timely question, as ongoing rapid global climatic change is a major source of novel selection pressures, therefore, understanding the dynamics of natural selection will provide key insights into potential outcomes for biodiversity. The methods developed in this project will not only benefit the growing field of paleogenomics but also other fields where data is collected in a temporal manner, such as experimental evolution and epidemiology. Ultimately, achievement of these goals requires the formation of a dedicated, closely knit team, focusing on both the methodological challenges as well as their bigger picture application to high-risk high-gain ventures. With ERC funding this can become a reality, enabling the interface of palaeogenomics and evolutionary biology to be pushed to the new limits of the modern sequencing era.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
7491 Trondheim
Norvège