Population phylogenomics: linking molecular evolution to species biology

Objective

The aim of the PopPhyl project is to characterize the population genetic environment of many representative plant and animal species, in order to elucidate which biological and ecological factors determine molecular evolutionary processes - we want to know why genomes evolve the way they evolve. We will establish predictions about the influence of ecological (population size, varying environment) and genetical (mating systems, life cycle, mutation rate) variables on comparative genomic patterns thanks to improved molecular evolutionary theory relying on Fisher's geometric model. Predictions will be checked empirically by collecting extensive data sets of within-species and between-species genomic diversity in a large number of well-chosen taxa, with monitored life history traits. Massive gene sequences will be obtained from the extraction and analysis of abundant mRNA's, ensuring comparability between even distant taxa. These data will allow us to assess, and compare across species, the population genetic parameters relevant to molecular evolution: effective population size, mutation rate, strength of positive and negative selection. The main focus of the project is on the influence of population size, mating systems and life-span on molecular evolutionary rates. Are abundant species genetically more diverse? Do they adapt more efficiently? Is self-fertilization the evolutionary dead-end it is said to be? Why are fast-evolving proteomes fast: higher mutation rate, or prominent adaptive evolution ? PopPhyl is an ambitious, long-term multi-disciplinary project lying at the boundary of phylogenetics and population genetics, and requiring intensive theoretical and bioinformatic developments. We want to explore a new dimension of evolutionary biology by making population genetics comparative, and by injecting species ecology into genomic analyses.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

• natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
• natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
• natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology molecular evolution

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• molecular evolution
• population genetics
• transcriptome

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• ERC-AG-LS8 - ERC Advanced Grant - Evolutionary, population and environmental biology

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2008-AdG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)