Project description
Unveiling the ecological mysteries of a marine species
Hydroides elegans is encountered in marine environments and is notorious for forming dense colonies on submerged structures such as ships, harbours and underwater pipes. Despite its biofouling impact, the evolution of this organism remains elusive, hampering predictions on its origin. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PolyGene project aims to study H. elegans by combining genomic and morphological data. Researchers will also study heteroplasmy, the presence of more than one type of mitochondrial DNA, to understand the contribution of the genetic diversity of heteroplasmy to the adaptation to changing environments. Collectively, the work will enhance current knowledge on mitochondrial evolution and aid in the management of this invasive species.
Objective
Hydroides elegans is a significant biofouling invasive species in tropical and subtropical seas, causing damages to man-made structures in harbors and incurring economic costs. Despite its importance, the taxonomy and evolution of this organism remain poorly understood, hindering conservation efforts and predictions of its future distribution. Recent phylogenetic reconstructions suggest two cryptic species, with one showing higher invasiveness. Additionally, H. elegans exhibits heteroplasmy, with more than one mtDNA type observed due to paternal leakage-driven genomic introgression. PolyGene aims to provide novel insights into this widespread species from genomic, morphologic and ecologic perspectives. The project's objectives are threefold: (1) Investigating the origin, maintenance, and evolution of heteroplasmy in H. elegans; (2) Conducting an integrative taxonomic revision to understand population dynamics and hybridization events; (3) Modeling the species' distribution and climate adaptation potential.
PolyGene represents a pioneering integrative study focusing on heteroplasmy in Annelida that will utilize large-scale genomic data, morphologic data and distribution modeling, to bring a significant step forward in our understanding of mitochondrial evolution and a scientific-based approach for effective management of an important marine invasive species. The project fosters collaboration between three research groups at the Natural History Museum of Oslo (NHMO) and a secondment to the Senckenberg Research Institute (SGN), nurturing my growth as an independent researcher in evolutionary biology of marine organisms. The project allows me to gain and deepen scientific expertise and transferable skills, needed to pursue a career either in academia or in policy-making.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
0313 Oslo
Norway