Descrizione del progetto
Ricerca di una spiegazione del mutualismo nei genomi dei pesci pagliaccio e degli anemoni di mare
Il mutualismo è un tipo di simbiosi in cui entrambe le parti beneficiano dell’interazione. Ne esistono esempi ovunque. Tuttavia, nonostante la sua natura universale, o forse proprio per questo, non esiste una teoria evoluzionistica unificante del mutualismo. I pesci pagliaccio e gli anemoni di mare in cui vivono sono un esempio molto conosciuto di simbiosi mutualistica. Gli anemoni di mare forniscono riparo e cibo avanzato ai pesci pagliaccio, che puliscono l’ambiente mangiando gli scarti e favoriscono la circolazione dell’acqua mentre sventolano le pinne. Il progetto ANEMONE, finanziato dall’UE, sta studiando questo classico esempio di mutualismo, utilizzando il sequenziamento del genoma intero per verificare diverse ipotesi riguardanti lo sviluppo e l’evoluzione del mutualismo e degli organismi coinvolti.
Obiettivo
The importance of mutualism is underscored by its ubiquity- virtually all of life engages in complex multi-level mutualisms that critically impact the formation and distribution of biodiversity around the globe. Although general expectations exist, no unifying evolutionary theory of mutualism has been established. Largely impeding a synthetic framework for mutualism are incomplete understandings of individual case studies. No mutualism is perhaps more representative of this than the iconic clownfish-sea anemone symbioses, a model mutualism regularly used for exploring fundamental biological processes, but one in which our understanding remains wildly incomplete due to a lack of research into the evolution of the host anemones. Here I propose to use full genome sequencing to conduct the first genomic investigation into the clownfish-hosting sea anemones. I will test: 1) if mutualistic benefits of hosting clownfishes has led to multiple adaptive radiations in host sea anemones, and are thus more diverse than currently described. 2) Whether the mutualistic benefits of hosting clownfishes led to significant ecological opportunity for host anemones, and thus, signatures of demographic population expansion that coincide with the onset of the symbiosis. 3) Whether mutualism with clownfishes has driven convergent genome evolution and architecture among host anemones. 4) The Red King Hypothesis, which states that mutualistic lineages should have slower rates of molecular evolution than their free living relatives. The proposed research will provide novel insight into this iconic mutualism that will bear on the interpretation of dozens of prior studies that span scientific disciplines. Fully disentangling the evolutionary implications of mutualism in this symbiosis will provide critical comparative data from the marine environment in order to more fully evaluate the generalities of mutualism across ecosystems.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
1015 LAUSANNE
Svizzera