Phylogenetic association mapping and its application to secondary metabolite variation in Brassicaceae species

Informazioni relative al progetto

INTERACT

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 802629

DOI

10.3030/802629

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 10 Aprile 2019

Data di avvio 1 Settembre 2019

Data di completamento 31 Gennaio 2025

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 1 494 214,00

Contributo UE

€ 1 494 214,00

Coordinato da

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - INTERACT (Phylogenetic association mapping and its application to secondary metabolite variation in Brassicaceae species)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-03-01 al 2025-01-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

Understanding how genetic traits evolve across species remains a major challenge in biology. This project focused on the Brassicaceae family, a group of plants including Arabidopsis thaliana, to study how meiotic recombination—the process that reshuffles DNA during reproduction—varies and evolves.

We established a panel of ~20 Brassicaceae species representing the full diversity of the family and developed seed stocks to support long-term genetic studies. Using modern sequencing technologies, we generated high-quality genome assemblies and gene annotations for selected species.

To link genetic differences with variation in recombination, we developed a novel method called Phylogenetic Association Mapping (PAM). This approach allows researchers to identify trait–gene associations across species while accounting for their evolutionary relationships.

By applying PAM to recombination traits, we identified genetic factors influencing crossover patterns and validated key candidates. The project delivers new tools and data for studying genome evolution across plant lineages.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

Over the course of the project, we established a phylogenetically diverse panel of ~20 Brassicaceae species, covering the major lineages of the family. Seed stocks were acquired, propagated, and maintained to support future genetic and phenotypic research.We generated high-quality genome assemblies and gene annotations for selected species using long-read and Hi-C sequencing, combined with transcriptomic data. These assemblies enabled reliable cross-species comparisons of gene content, structure, and recombination features.

We developed of Phylogenetic Association Mapping (PAM), a novel method that allows the identification of genotype–trait associations across species while accounting for their shared evolutionary history. We applied PAM to meiotic recombination, quantifying recombination landscapes across species using cytological and genomic approaches. Our analyses revealed lineage-specific shifts in recombination rates and identified candidate genes responsible for this variation. Experimental validation of selected genes is ongoing.

All genomic resources, analysis tools, and protocols have been made publicly available through open-access repositories and community platforms. Key results have been presented at international conferences, and publications are in preparation or under review. The project's outputs will continue to support downstream applications in plant breeding, evolutionary biology, and genome analysis across eukaryotes.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

This project made substantial progress beyond the state of the art in comparative plant genomics and trait mapping across species. Prior to this work, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were largely limited to within-species variation and lacked statistical tools to incorporate phylogenetic information. Our development of Phylogenetic Association Mapping (PAM) overcomes this limitation by enabling trait–gene associations across species while accounting for evolutionary relationships. This is a major conceptual and methodological advance in evolutionary genetics.

The project also generated one of the most comprehensive genomic resources in Brassicaceae, including high-quality genome assemblies and annotations from phylogenetically diverse species. Combined with our new data on meiotic recombination landscapes, this opens the door to understanding how recombination evolves and how it is genetically controlled across deep evolutionary time.

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