Experts examine DNA changes that shaped life on Earth
Scientists are seeking to uncover how a significant, naturally occurring genetic process has shaped the complexity and diversity of many species during evolution.
An international team of researchers will investigate a phenomenon in which a species’ entire DNA code is duplicated, becoming four strands instead of the usual two, before reforming over millions of years to become two chains once more.
This doubling of all the genetic material in one event, known as whole genome duplication, enables genes to acquire new functions through time. This can give rise to new traits and is thought to have enabled plants, animals and other types of organisms to become more diverse and potentially more complex.
The team includes experts from the Roslin Institute, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences, the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Oxford, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. They will investigate how evolution unfolds after these events, allowing genes to diverge into duplicates, gaining new functions as they do so.
In the four-year project, the researchers will examine genomes from diverse groups of fish, plants, fungi and single-celled organisms.
Their project will examine how the potential of duplication events is unlocked during evolution, establishing key processes that underpin the origins of adaptation, biological complexity and species diversity.
“Whole genome duplications are a major but incompletely understood facet of the evolutionary story of many species – this project aims to uncover important new insights into the mechanisms by which these key events have shaped life on Earth.”
Professor Dan Macqueen,Project leader from the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh
The team will make use of high-quality genomic data and new sequencing technologies to understand the importance of whole genome duplication events across the tree of life.
“Analysis of our own human genome reveals that our ancestors underwent not one but two rounds of whole genome duplication. This likely provided the raw materials for innovative evolutionary change, and we now know that this genetic doubling is common across all life. This new project will use the unrivalled genome sequencing skills of experts at the Sanger Institute to provide reference genomes for key species. This will give us the essential foundations we need to understand the pattern and process of genomic doubling. It builds upon our work in the Darwin Tree of Life project, where we are sequencing all the species of Britain and Ireland, and shows the value of the high-quality data we produce.”
Professor Mark Blaxter,Co-lead on the project and Head of the Tree of Life programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
More information
Funding:
This four-year £ 5.3 million project will be funded by a Strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
