Projektbeschreibung
Die Grenzen der Erforschung alter DNS erweitern
Das Gebiet der prähistorischen DNS leistet Beiträge zur Evolutionsbiologie und Paläontologie, jedoch konzentrierten sich bisher fast alle Untersuchungen alter DNS auf Proben aus den letzten 50 000 Jahren. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt PrimiGenomes verfolgt nun das Ziel, die Evolution innerhalb eines Jahrmillionen umfassenden Zeitraums zu untersuchen. Dabei gilt es, neuartige paläogenomische Verfahren zu entwickeln und anzuwenden, um die Grenzen der DNS-Gewinnung auszuweiten und sich Fragen zu widmen, deren Beantwortung bisher außerhalb der Reichweite der Erforschung alter DNS lag. Die spezifische Vorgabe lautet, einhundert alte Genome zu sequenzieren, die aus den Überresten mehrerer holarktischer Säugetierarten aus dem frühen und mittleren Pleistozän gewonnen wurden. Mithilfe dieses Ansatzes wird es möglich sein, makroevolutionäre Veränderungen über Perioden pleistozäner Klimaveränderungen und nachfolgende Artbildungsereignisse hinweg zu untersuchen.
Ziel
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.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Not validated
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- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes
Programm/Programme
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Gastgebende Einrichtung
10691 Stockholm
Schweden