Description du projet
Variation génomique chez les grands singes
Pour comprendre les processus de variation génomique, nous devons déterminer les génomes des espèces anciennes et suivre leurs changements au cours de l’évolution. Le projet ApeGenomeDiversity, financé par l’UE, se concentre sur une grande diversité de singes et, à l’aide d’échantillons anciens, il entend obtenir une vue directe des génomes des populations éteintes. En comparant ces échantillons avec ceux des singes modernes, les scientifiques pourront comprendre l’origine et la dynamique des variantes génomiques et leur contribution au paysage génomique des espèces vivantes. Plus important encore, le projet donnera un aperçu de l’histoire de nos ancêtres les plus proches et de la signification fonctionnelle d’événements d’introgression spécifiques dans l’évolution.
Objectif
In our quest to fully understand the processes that shape the genomic variation of species, describing variation of the past is a fundamental objective. However, the origins and the extent of great ape variation, the genomic description of extinct primate species and the genomic footprints of introgression events all remain unknown. Even today, and in contraposition to human evolutionary biology, the almost null presence of ancient great ape samples has precluded a comprehensive exploration of such diversity.
Here, I present two approaches that will expose great ape diversity throughout time and will allow me to compare the genomic impact of introgression events across lineages. First, I would like to take advantage of ancient ape samples that will provide us with a direct view of the genomes of extinct populations. Second, I would like to exploit current and recent diversity to indirectly access the parts of extinct ape genomes that became hybridized with current species in the past. For the latter, we will analyse hundreds of non-invasive samples taken from present-day great apes as well as historical specimens. Altogether, this information will enable me to decipher novel genomes that until now have been lost in time. In this way, I will be able to properly understand the origins and dynamics of genomic variants and to study how admixture has contributed to today´s adaptive landscape.
By completing this proposal and performing analogies to the human lineage, fundamental insights will be revealed about (i) the spatial-temporal history of our closest species and (ii) the functional consequences of introgressed events. On top of that, these results will help to annotate functional consequences of novel mutations in the human genome. In so doing, a fundamental insight will be provided into the evolutionary history of these regions and into human mutations with multiple repercussions in the understanding of evolution and human biology.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
08002 Barcelona
Espagne