Project description DEENESFRITPL Extending limits of ancient DNA investigation The field of ancient DNA contributes to evolutionary biology and palaeontology, but nearly all ancient DNA studies up to date have focused on samples from the last 50 000 years. The EU-funded PrimiGenomes project aims to study evolution on a million-year time scale. The goal is to develop and apply novel palaeogenomic methods to extend the limits of DNA recovery to address questions which previously were beyond the reach of ancient DNA research. The specific objective is to sequence one hundred ancient genomes recovered from the Early and Middle Pleistocene remains of multiple Holarctic mammalian species. This approach will provide the possibility to examine macroevolutionary changes across periods of Pleistocene climate change and subsequent speciation events. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The field of ancient DNA has made major contributions to evolutionary biology and palaeontology in recent years, due to its power to reveal novel information about prehistory. However, even though many of the evolutionary processes that shaped the present-day biota have taken place over hundreds of thousands of years, nearly all ancient DNA studies to date have focused on biological changes during the last 50,000 years. I here propose a groundbreaking project that aims to study evolution on a million-year time scale. We will develop and apply novel palaeogenomic methods to extend the current limits of DNA recovery, which will allow us to address scientific questions previously thought to be beyond the realm of ancient DNA research. More specifically, we aim to sequence one hundred ancient genomes recovered from Early and Middle Pleistocene remains of multiple Holarctic mammalian species. This will enable us to examine macroevolutionary changes across speciation events and key periods of Pleistocene climate change. More specifically, we will investigate several fundamental questions on how species originate, the importance of interspecific introgression, the timing and rate of adaptive evolution, and the demographic consequences of past environmental change. My research group has a track-record at the cutting-edge of wildlife palaeogenomics, and recently led the study that extended the limit of ancient DNA recovery to beyond one million years. Based at the newly established Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, the project will extend beyond the current state of the art and will set a new paradigm for palaeogenomic research. The resulting data will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers studying long-term evolutionary dynamics and environmental changes at a global scale. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes Programme(s) HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2021-ADG - ERC ADVANCED GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2021-ADG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC) Coordinator STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET Net EU contribution € 2 500 000,00 Address Universitetsvagen 10 10691 Stockholm Sweden See on map Region Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
