Project: Adaptive consequences of whole genome duplication in natural and experimental plant populations
Research group: Kolář
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Deadline is closed
Whole genome duplication (polyploidization) is a dramatic genome-wide mutation whose ubiquity across eukaryotes suggests an adaptive benefit, though no mechanism has been identified. In the project, the successful applicant will be testing if WGD promotes adaptation in natural plant populations and address the underlying mechanism. To move beyond correlative studies, the work will combine field surveys, population genomics and targeted transplant experiments towards model stress environment (naturally toxic soil). The project will address the adaptive consequences of WGD over a hierarchy of levels: genome, phenotype, population and species. To isolate the net effect of WGD, we will also manipulate the mutation itself via synthesis of neo-polyploid lineages. We will build on our previous experimental and population genomic research in wild Arabidopsis that demonstrated that WGD can increase the capacity of populations to accumulate adaptive variation, however, the PhD project will extend beyond this system to additional model plants in order to discern generality. The student will join an established international team of Ecological Genomics at the Department of Botany and their position will be funded by a new ERC Starting Grant DOUBLE ADAPT.
Deadline is closed