Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Balancing selection and the molecular evolution of mimicry supergenes

Objective

How genome organisation and architecture respond to variations in selection regimes is indeed poorly known at the microevolutionary scale. Supergenes are tight clusters of genes which simultaneously control the variation of various components of a complex trait, involving elements with different ontology1-4. Supergenes typically evolve in response to strong epistatic selection between neighbouring genes. They are usually maintained by some form of balancing selection, but the modalities of their evolution are still obscure and require empirical investigation. I propose to take advantage of the remarkable supergene controlling wing-pattern mimicry balanced polymorphism in the tropical butterfly Heliconius numata to investigate the structure and evolution of supergenes at the molecular level. The supergene P is a positional homologue of a loose cluster of loci controlling wing pattern mimicry in a related species. Positional cloning revealed the supergene is situated in a local inversion. Recombination is largely suppressed around P and two groups of haplotypes segregate in perfect association with wing pattern in natural populations. I propose to investigate the detailed structure of the inversion breakpoints and gene shuffling to test the working model of supergenes arising by rearrangement of distant ancestral loci. Using population genetics I propose to survey genetic diversity and look for signatures of balancing selection on the genes composing the supergene inversion. We will test for the effect of balancing selection in a patchy habitat, which has received little empirical data. We are now very close to genetically characterise the major loci controlling spectacular adaptations, involved in speciation and radiations, and determining species coexistence.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2009-StG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
EU contribution
€ 760 726,00
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.

No data

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0