Sex and bottlenecks: understanding the evolutionary dynamics of bacterial adaptation. Bacteria can rapidly adapt to changing environments, often with devastating consequences for humans. However, this adaptive evolution is often limited by strong reductions in population size, in particular during transmission from one host to another. This project aims to investigate whether recombination in bacteria can overcome the limits that such bottlenecks impose on the rate of adaptation. To this end, it ....Sex and bottlenecks: understanding the evolutionary dynamics of bacterial adaptation. Bacteria can rapidly adapt to changing environments, often with devastating consequences for humans. However, this adaptive evolution is often limited by strong reductions in population size, in particular during transmission from one host to another. This project aims to investigate whether recombination in bacteria can overcome the limits that such bottlenecks impose on the rate of adaptation. To this end, it will construct mathematical models and complement them with evolution experiments in bacterial populations. Results from this research aim to generate fundamental insights into the role of recombination in bacterial evolution and will provide guidance for developing management strategies for bacterial pathogens.Read moreRead less
The evolutionary genetics of adaptation in species with separate sexes. This project aims to provide new theory and analysis methods for studying the genetic basis of female and male fitness. The project expects to provide new insights into the evolutionary, genetic and demographic mechanisms that influence evolutionary genetic diversity within populations. The project will reveal how sex differences in selection affect adaptation, and provide a framework for predicting whether populations with ....The evolutionary genetics of adaptation in species with separate sexes. This project aims to provide new theory and analysis methods for studying the genetic basis of female and male fitness. The project expects to provide new insights into the evolutionary, genetic and demographic mechanisms that influence evolutionary genetic diversity within populations. The project will reveal how sex differences in selection affect adaptation, and provide a framework for predicting whether populations with separate sexes are able to persist under changing environmental conditions. By developing a rigorous theoretical foundation for sex-specific adaptation – including genome inference methods that follow logically from the theory – the proposal will define new approaches for studying evolutionary processes in natural populations.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100354
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
How adaptation increases the intensity of sexual conflict. This project aims to test a theory that a species’ adaptation to its environment may cause sexual conflicts where gene variants increase the fitness of one sex but decrease it in the other. When populations harbour large numbers of these sexually antagonistic genes, adaptation is hampered and extinction becomes more likely. This project will fuse experimental evolution with quantitative genetic approaches to test this theory. Understandi ....How adaptation increases the intensity of sexual conflict. This project aims to test a theory that a species’ adaptation to its environment may cause sexual conflicts where gene variants increase the fitness of one sex but decrease it in the other. When populations harbour large numbers of these sexually antagonistic genes, adaptation is hampered and extinction becomes more likely. This project will fuse experimental evolution with quantitative genetic approaches to test this theory. Understanding sex differences in adaptation and the evolution of sexual dimorphism could enable scientists to predict levels of sexually deleterious variation under changing environmental conditions. Its findings are expected to provide new insights into sex differences in adaptation.Read moreRead less
Sex-specific selection and adaptation in spatially variable environments. This project aims to outline a broadly applicable approach for estimating sex-specific selection, which is based on an extension of the theory of local adaptation with gene flow. Adaptive evolution can be constrained when patterns of selection differ between the sexes. Experiments using model organisms provide strong evidence for adaptive constraints due to sex differences in selection. Outside of these model systems, sex- ....Sex-specific selection and adaptation in spatially variable environments. This project aims to outline a broadly applicable approach for estimating sex-specific selection, which is based on an extension of the theory of local adaptation with gene flow. Adaptive evolution can be constrained when patterns of selection differ between the sexes. Experiments using model organisms provide strong evidence for adaptive constraints due to sex differences in selection. Outside of these model systems, sex-specific selection estimates are difficult to obtain because methods for estimating selection are not easily applied to natural populations. Experiments, using a clinally variable Drosophila population from Eastern Australia constitute the first tests of the new theory.Read moreRead less
Detecting sex differences in natural selection. This project aims to develop new genomic approaches for understanding how genetic mutations can differentially affect reproductive success in males and females. Applying novel tests, this project aims to uncover previously hidden genetic conflicts between the sexes. This will provide significant benefits, such as new tools that will be broadly applicable to the wider research community, and help to answer key questions in genetics and evolutionary ....Detecting sex differences in natural selection. This project aims to develop new genomic approaches for understanding how genetic mutations can differentially affect reproductive success in males and females. Applying novel tests, this project aims to uncover previously hidden genetic conflicts between the sexes. This will provide significant benefits, such as new tools that will be broadly applicable to the wider research community, and help to answer key questions in genetics and evolutionary biology in the current genomic era.Read moreRead less
Is regressive evolution associated with loss of gene function in subterranean animals? This project aims to investigate a fundamental biological process: the evolutionary basis for how non-functional characters, such as eyes in subterranean animals, are lost. It will use a unique model system based on eyeless water beetles, and utilise novel new genomic tools to test whether loss of characters results from gene inactivation.
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101193
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Testing models for sex evolution and maintenance. This project aims to study the evolution of sex. The short-term costs of sexual reproduction seem to outweigh its benefits, making its widespread success an evolutionary conundrum. The project will test high-profile models which predict higher rates of sex in individuals poorly adapted to their environment than in well adapted individuals. This process allows sex genes to escape from unfavourable genetic backgrounds and hastens local adaptation o ....Testing models for sex evolution and maintenance. This project aims to study the evolution of sex. The short-term costs of sexual reproduction seem to outweigh its benefits, making its widespread success an evolutionary conundrum. The project will test high-profile models which predict higher rates of sex in individuals poorly adapted to their environment than in well adapted individuals. This process allows sex genes to escape from unfavourable genetic backgrounds and hastens local adaptation of populations to their environment. This work is expected to discover the link between reproductive mode and adaptation, strengthen research into consequences of environmental change, and solve a long-standing puzzle of evolutionary biology.Read moreRead less
Tracking the molecular dynamics of adaptation with horizontal gene transfer. This project aims to track the dynamics of adaptation with gene exchange by building the first experimental evolution model that can directly observe this process. The acquisition of genes from other strains and species (horizontal gene transfer) frequently underlies bacterial adaptation, but it is unknown how this occurs. This project aims to shift understanding of how microbial populations respond to environmental cha ....Tracking the molecular dynamics of adaptation with horizontal gene transfer. This project aims to track the dynamics of adaptation with gene exchange by building the first experimental evolution model that can directly observe this process. The acquisition of genes from other strains and species (horizontal gene transfer) frequently underlies bacterial adaptation, but it is unknown how this occurs. This project aims to shift understanding of how microbial populations respond to environmental challenges. There are significant benefits to be gained from understanding how microbes adapt in response to climate change and the widespread application of antibiotics, given that microbial populations form intimate associations with humans and sustain all of the world’s ecosystems.Read moreRead less
How does developmental plasticity shape adaptation to environmental change? This project aims to address how animals adapt to environmental change by examining a process largely ignored in current studies: how the environment alters animal development. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of the genetics of adaptation using an innovative approach to determine how genetic variation, environmental conditions, and development interact to shape adaptation to changing environmen ....How does developmental plasticity shape adaptation to environmental change? This project aims to address how animals adapt to environmental change by examining a process largely ignored in current studies: how the environment alters animal development. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of the genetics of adaptation using an innovative approach to determine how genetic variation, environmental conditions, and development interact to shape adaptation to changing environments. Expected outcomes of this project include enhancing predictions of how species respond to climate change and building capacity for international collaborations. The intended impact of this project is to increase our understanding of how animals respond to environmental change by determining how multiple environmental cues act together to alter development, and how the genetic makeup of the individual affects these responses.Read moreRead less