DarwinPlants: Probing the genomic basis of rapid evolutionary diversification in the Galápagos daisy trees (genus Scalesia)

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2019

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

1,242,300 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

This project seeks to understand the genetic basis of the rapid evolution of diversity in a unique and threatened group of plants from the Galápagos Islands. Studies of the forms and distribution patterns of species on the world?s oceanic island chains have provided scientists with major insights into the process of evolution. Among these chains is the Galápagos archipelago, where Charles Darwin collected the specimens and observations that would eventually lead to the formation of his theory of evolutionary change through natural selection. Daisy trees (genus Scalesia) are one special group of plants found only on the Galápagos islands. Within a relatively small time period (four million years), the plants evolved from a single ancestor into 15 different species with drastic variation in size and shape, as well as diversity of life habits and strategies. For this reason, these plants have been called 'the Darwin?s finches of the plant world'. The main objective of our project is to determine the genetic mechanisms that have allowed such a rapid and dramatic diversification in this group. Our team will use several advanced approaches to determine these mechanisms, including next-generation sequencing of the entire genome (DNA) and transcriptome (RNA) contained in hundreds of individual plants. We use this data to apply phylogenetic and population genetic methods to achieve our secondary objective, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of all of the Scalesia species. Update 2022-12-02. Thus far, many objectives and milestones have been achieved. The two postdoctoral researchers have been hired and have commenced full-time work on the project. All genomic and transcriptomic data generation has been completed. A paper describing a high-quality reference genome assembly for Scalesia atractyloides, as well as the genomic basis of the Scalesia plants' adaptation to the island environment, has been published in Nature Communications. An article describing how genomics can inform open questions in adaptive radiations is in review. The analyses of population genomic and transcriptomic data are underway. So far three academic articles resulting from work on the project have been published so far. Project members have given at least eight academic lectures/seminars describing the project and disseminating its main results to-date.