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On the evolution of fleshy fruits: An integrative test to assess the relative role of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in shaping fruit type

Descrizione del progetto

Esaminare l’evoluzione dei frutti carnosi

Oggi possiamo contare su una sorprendente diversità di frutti. Questa grande varietà è il risultato di pressioni selettive esercitate da diversi fattori, quali l’ambiente o i geni ereditati. Per determinare il loro contributo in relazione all’evoluzione della frutta, l’analisi integrativa è fondamentale. Il progetto FRUITFUL, finanziato dall’UE, utilizzerà questo approccio per studiare l’evoluzione dei frutti carnosi nella famiglia delle olive. Saranno identificate le autonome transizioni verso i frutti carnosi, analizzando i geni rappresentativi delle specie frutticole, determinando la distribuzione geografica dell’oliva e integrando tutti i risultati in modelli causali. L’approccio del progetto fornirà una migliore comprensione dei modelli dei principali cambiamenti evolutivi.

Obiettivo

A trip to a grocery store exposes us to an outstanding diversity of fruits. While this variety was influenced by human selection during plant domestication, it mainly reflects strategies of seed dispersal that evolved over millions of years. Despite the huge variation in fruit color, shape, and size, common patterns can still be identified, especially the repeated evolution of fleshy fruits (e.g. olives, apples, tomatoes). Though this pattern is well observed, we are still exploring the role of different factors and their selective pressures. These can be intrinsic, as evolution of inherited genes determining fruit traits, or extrinsic, as the environment. To date, studies have focused on one or two major factors at a time, but their relative contributions requires an integrative analysis.
FRUITFUL will dissect the evolution of fleshy fruits in the olive family. Oleaceae is the ideal study subject here because it presents a natural comparative set-up for fruit evolution: multiple lineages that independently evolved fleshy fruits; species living in a variety of environments; and diverse seed dispersers. Further, several genomes and transcriptomes of Oleaceae were recently released.
In this project, I will: (1) identify independent transitions to fleshy fruit within a comprehensive phylogenetic framework of Oleaceae; (2) use phylogenomic approaches to analyze representative genes in species with fleshy or dry fruits, and test for switches in selective pressures in relation to trait transitions; (3) estimate the historical biogeography of the family, along with current environmental preferences of species, and their seed dispersers; and finally, (4) integrate all results in models of causal relationships, and identify direct and indirect effects, and their magnitudes, among variables and fruit type. FRUITFUL’s interdisciplinary research and novel integrative approach will provide new insights into understanding the patterns observed at a macroevolutionary scale.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifica i progetti con EuroSciVoc, una tassonomia multilingue dei campi scientifici, attraverso un processo semi-automatico basato su tecniche NLP. Cfr.: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

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Coordinatore

UNIVERSITE PAUL SABATIER TOULOUSE III
Contributo netto dell'UE
€ 295 061,76
Indirizzo
ROUTE DE NARBONNE 118
31062 Toulouse Cedex 9
Francia

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Regione
Occitanie Midi-Pyrénées Haute-Garonne
Tipo di attività
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Collegamenti
Costo totale
€ 295 061,76