GEE SEMINAR SERIES

Dear All

The speaker for the next seminar is Professor Aoife Mc Lysaght, with a talk entitled ‘Patterns and consequences of genome duplication in animals’.

This seminar is open to all regardless of career stage. Please share details with colleagues, wider networks and those who may be interested.

Location: B05 LT, Chadwick Building
Host: Adam Rutherford

Please email Adam if you would like a one to one with Aoife. 

Abstract:
Genome duplication (polyploidy) has long been recognised as an important evolutionary force and has been implicated in the origins of new genes and the diversification of many lineages, including vertebrates. In this talk I will present two strands of research that focus on (1) longer-term genomic patterns following polyploidy, and (2) the short-term impacts of an extra genome copy in the nucleus.

Eventually, polyploid genomes regain diploid inheritance (pairs instead of quartets of chromosomes). This rediploidisation process was generally presumed to be both prompt and uniform, neither of which turns out to be true. The fact that rediploidisation can be delayed and asynchronous  uncouples gene and genome duplication and has important implications for interpretation of evolution following polyploidy, and also opens up novel avenues of research.

While the longer-term benefits of genome duplication appear to be clear (principally the generation of new genes), how lineages overcome the initial burden of polyploidy is more puzzling. One important hypothesis is that polyploidy confers conditional benefits under stress conditions. This model is supported by circumstantial evidence of timing of ancestral events and some experimental evidence from plant lineages. We have tested stress resilience of neopolyploids in an animal model for the first time and find that neotetraploids have enhanced survival, especially after cold stress.

Thank you