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Contenu archivé le 2022-12-23

A multidisciplinary study of hybrid zones in the common shrew

Objectif

The project largely derives from a highly successful previous INTAS project (93-1463) that involved all the team leaders of the current project and which resulted in 21 publications. That previous project helped to identify numerous new chromosome races of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) over the Former Soviet Union. As a result, the species is one of the best described among mammals in terms of chromosomal variation. Because of its extreme variability, the common shrew is a marvellous evolutionary model. In the current application, we exploit the variety of hybrid zones that are produced when different combinations of the 68 known chromosome races come into contact with each other and hybridise. Hybrid zones are of major evolutionary interest because they act as partial barriers to gene flow between the hybridising races and because they may be sites of raciation and speciation. The proposed project involves teams from York (UK), Brno (Czech Republic), Moscow and Novosibirsk (Russia) and 1-2 hybrid zones close to each team will be studied. The total of 6 hybrid zones are therefore well-scattered over the whole wide Eurasian range of the common shrew, but they were also selected for their diverse properties. In some of the zones we will study races that only differ by a few chromosomal rearrangements, in other zones the races differ by many rearrangements. This has implications on the karyotype and therefore the fertility of hybrids, with complexity of the hybrid karyotype and infertility increasing with increasing chromosomal difference between the hybridising races. Through study of the six hybrid zones we will generate generalities on the properties of hybrid zones of the common shrew, which will themselves help our understanding of hybrid zones overall. Through new sampling and use of previously collected data, we will (a) determine the course and structure of all the 6 hybrid zones, (b) examine the degree of genetic differentiation and gene flow across each zone, (c) measure hybrid unfitness for each zone and (d) use all the data obtained, together with simulation modelling, to understand the present properties and evolutionary potential of all the hybrid zones. Our previous INTAS project developed the common shrew as a primary model for the study of chromosome variation. The present project is using that knowledge to develop a programme that will make the common shrew one of the foremost models for the study of hybrid zones. All four teams will contribute vital expertise to the project, and through research exchanges there will be transfer of that expertise between teams. Through regular project meetings and close e-mail contact, the project will be well coordinated. In terms of output we anticipate over 10 publications, presentations to international meetings and overall a very substantial contribution to evolutionary biology.

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Régime de financement

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Coordinateur

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Contribution de l’UE
Aucune donnée
Adresse
Heslington
YORK
Royaume-Uni

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Participants (3)