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Meiotic adaptation to allopolyploidy

Objective

Hybridization between related species resulting in allopolyploidy is ubiquitous in the evolutionary history of plants. Such nascent allopolyploids face the challenge of ensuring accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis in the presence of related, but non-identical chromosome sets (called homoeologues), inherited from the allopolyploids progenitors. Essential for fertility, this relies upon the formation of physical connections (crossovers) between homologous chromosomes, while crossovers between homoeologues - that could lead to aneuploidy - must be prevented. Meiotic stability in the allopolyploid context thus requires a tight control of recombination partner choice. The existence of highly fertile natural allopolyploids shows that solutions exist and have arisen many times during evolution, but the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. My goal is to elucidate the evolutionary processes of meiotic stabilization of nascent allopolyploids, with a special emphasis on the molecular mechanisms that prevent recombination between homoeologous chromosomes. I propose to recreate in the lab the natural hybridization that happened ~16 Kya between A. thaliana and A. arenosa leading to Arabidopsis suecica in order to characterize the mechanisms underlying the evolution of the young allopolyploids over the first generations as they acquire meiotic stability and full fertility. The proposed project has three main objectives: (1) map and characterize genome-wide recombination between homoeologues; (2) identify the factors that control homoeologous pairing and recombination and (3) elucidate how this control is progressively set up in newly formed allopolyploids. Our studies have the potential to bring new and fundamental insights on the evolutionary processes enabling meiotic stabilization of nascent allopolyploids and to contribute to polyploid crop improvement through knowledge transfer to plant breeding programs.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG

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Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 496 630,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 496 630,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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