Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP190101583

Funding Activity

Website
http://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP190101583

Funding Status
Active

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Funded Activity Summary

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.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2019

End Date: 31-12-2023

Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Funding Amount: $440,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Molecular Evolution | Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified | Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics | Genetics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

Inherited Diseases (incl. Gene Therapy) | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences |

Other Keywords

Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Genetics | Inherited Diseases (incl. Gene Therapy) | Molecular Evolution | Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics

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