Evolution, selection and estimation of polygenic epistatic networks in quantitative traits. Traits observed in organisms, such as height, are the result of an individual's genes and how they relate to the environment. But genes do not act alone; they work together in complex interactions. This project aims to understand these interactions and their role in animal production and human disease.
Multilevel selection and the integrity of mitochondrial DNA. This project aims to investigate the evolutionary conundrum of how and why organelles remain asexual. The widespread occurrence of sexual reproduction suggests that sex is beneficial to organisms. Yet we all carry an ancient genome that never had sex, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Theory predicts that mtDNA should no longer exist, because without sex it accumulates deleterious mutations and cannot accumulate beneficial ones. Yet mt ....Multilevel selection and the integrity of mitochondrial DNA. This project aims to investigate the evolutionary conundrum of how and why organelles remain asexual. The widespread occurrence of sexual reproduction suggests that sex is beneficial to organisms. Yet we all carry an ancient genome that never had sex, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Theory predicts that mtDNA should no longer exist, because without sex it accumulates deleterious mutations and cannot accumulate beneficial ones. Yet mtDNA does not suffer mutational meltdown and is shown to adapt. This project will explain how, proposing that the combination of two traits, uniparental inheritance and multiple genomes per cell, make up for the lack of sex. This project expects to provide an explanation for the evolutionary question of what keeps mitochondria healthy, important as mitochondria affect ageing and health.Read moreRead less
Diet influences the selective advantage of mitochondrial DNA mutations. This project aims to examine critical mechanisms that affect mitochondrial DNA variation within species. It aims to test the hypothesis that mitochondrial DNA haplotypes have the potential to be under nutritionally induced balancing selection as a consequence of cellular signalling and/or Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production by mitochondria. Diet can vary both seasonally and geographically and is a key environmental param ....Diet influences the selective advantage of mitochondrial DNA mutations. This project aims to examine critical mechanisms that affect mitochondrial DNA variation within species. It aims to test the hypothesis that mitochondrial DNA haplotypes have the potential to be under nutritionally induced balancing selection as a consequence of cellular signalling and/or Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production by mitochondria. Diet can vary both seasonally and geographically and is a key environmental parameter that influences the ability of a species to colonise new habitats. The project plans to characterise the functional links between specific mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, mitochondrial functions and organismal traits. The expected outcome is a more precise grasp of the processes influencing genetic variation within and among species, which would inform current issues in ecology and genetics.Read moreRead less
Diet, gut microbiota and the evolution of lifespan and reproduction. Nutrition has pronounced effects on lifespan and reproduction across animal species, yet how these effects are mediated is poorly understood. This project aims to determine if the gut microbiota regulates these nutritional effects. This project expects to deliver key insights on the complex interplay between nutrition and the gut microbiota, as well as the potential to manipulate this relationship to extend lifespan and alter r ....Diet, gut microbiota and the evolution of lifespan and reproduction. Nutrition has pronounced effects on lifespan and reproduction across animal species, yet how these effects are mediated is poorly understood. This project aims to determine if the gut microbiota regulates these nutritional effects. This project expects to deliver key insights on the complex interplay between nutrition and the gut microbiota, as well as the potential to manipulate this relationship to extend lifespan and alter reproduction. The expected outcomes of this project include generating new knowledge, building multidisciplinary collaborations and the development of novel experimental approaches. This should provide significant benefits, fore-most in bolstering Australia’s high international standing in evolutionary research. Read moreRead less
Evolutionary history and impact of adeno-associated viruses in Australia. Recently accrued evidence identifies Australia as an ideal closed-model system in which to elucidate the evolutionary history of a group of non-pathogenic viruses, known as adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). This project aims to trace back the evolutionary history of AAVs for tens of millions of years via molecular fossil imprints left behind by ancient viral invasions of Australian marsupial genomes. Concurrently, the poten ....Evolutionary history and impact of adeno-associated viruses in Australia. Recently accrued evidence identifies Australia as an ideal closed-model system in which to elucidate the evolutionary history of a group of non-pathogenic viruses, known as adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). This project aims to trace back the evolutionary history of AAVs for tens of millions of years via molecular fossil imprints left behind by ancient viral invasions of Australian marsupial genomes. Concurrently, the potential impact that these viral invasions had on the evolutionary development of their ancestral hosts will be investigated. This could facilitate previously unattainable insights into both AAV and marsupial evolution, with broader implications relevant to the advancement of the fields of virology and mammalian evolution.Read moreRead less
Evolution and ecology of integron gene cassettes: exploring the protein universe. Bacteria rapidly adapt to new conditions by sharing diverse genes via lateral genetic transfer, best illustrated by the spread of antibiotic resistance. This study will characterise mobile genes, discovering new gene families and proteins, and will expand existing knowledge of bacterial evolution.
How evolution is constrained by trade-offs between the multiplication and survival of organisms. The negative correlation between reproduction (production of large numbers of progeny) and survival (resistance to external challenges) is a crucial trade-off that limits the evolution of perfect organisms. Such trade-offs are extremely difficult to study in closely controlled experiments because of the complexities in biological organisation and life-cycles. This project will explore trade-offs usin ....How evolution is constrained by trade-offs between the multiplication and survival of organisms. The negative correlation between reproduction (production of large numbers of progeny) and survival (resistance to external challenges) is a crucial trade-off that limits the evolution of perfect organisms. Such trade-offs are extremely difficult to study in closely controlled experiments because of the complexities in biological organisation and life-cycles. This project will explore trade-offs using a novel synthetic biology strategy. Genes in bacteria will be engineered to produce strains with a range of fixed but different trade-off settings. The strain sets will allow unprecedented analysis of reproduction-survival trade-offs and testing of important models of how trade-offs control fitness and evolutionary outcomes.Read moreRead less
Refining the timescale of human evolution and dispersal using ancient DNA. Understanding the timescale of human evolution and migration is a key goal of genetic analysis. It provides the foundation for studying our evolutionary and demographic history, our relationships to other hominids and our impact on the natural world. This project aims to use ancient DNA data to improve estimates of our evolutionary timescale.
Characterising rates of molecular evolution across the Tree of Life. This project aims to characterise the variation in molecular evolutionary rates across the Tree of Life. Despite advances in genetic methods and genomic data, a critical gap remains in knowledge of evolutionary rates across species. The project will evaluate and refine methods for estimating rates, develop genomic data for molecular clocks, create an online database of rate estimates, and reconstruct ecological communities’ res ....Characterising rates of molecular evolution across the Tree of Life. This project aims to characterise the variation in molecular evolutionary rates across the Tree of Life. Despite advances in genetic methods and genomic data, a critical gap remains in knowledge of evolutionary rates across species. The project will evaluate and refine methods for estimating rates, develop genomic data for molecular clocks, create an online database of rate estimates, and reconstruct ecological communities’ responses to past environmental and climatic factors. The project’s database of evolutionary rates in different species is expected to increase understanding of evolutionary and demographic events across species, including the Australian biota, and improve conservation efforts.Read moreRead less
Expanding and resolving the earliest modern human divergence through DNA. This project aims to expand and resolve the earliest modern human divergence. Although it is clear modern humans emerged from Africa, there is no consensus on the timeline of modern human evolution. Archaeological evidence suggests two contenders: east and southern Africa. Genetic data supports the latter; the team’s own data shows that the southern African KhoeSan click-speaking forager peoples have the oldest extant huma ....Expanding and resolving the earliest modern human divergence through DNA. This project aims to expand and resolve the earliest modern human divergence. Although it is clear modern humans emerged from Africa, there is no consensus on the timeline of modern human evolution. Archaeological evidence suggests two contenders: east and southern Africa. Genetic data supports the latter; the team’s own data shows that the southern African KhoeSan click-speaking forager peoples have the oldest extant human lineages. This project will generate large mitochondrial genome and whole genome sequence data for KhoeSan lineages. This is expected to narrow the time of modern human emergence.Read moreRead less