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| Gast Gruppe Evolutionäre Genomik (J. Baines) |
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Gast Gruppe Evolutionäre Genomik
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Since being appointed within the DFG Excellence Cluster “Inflammation at Interfaces” in 2009, the group of John Baines has shifted its focus to the coevolution of vertebrate hosts and their complex communities of commensal bacteria, or “microbiota”, in an effort to better understand this relationship in the context of both human health and disease. A combination of bacterial metagenomics, evolutionary functional genomics and population genetics is applied to identify and characterize the complex interactions between hosts, their bacteria and the environment.
Ongoing Projects
Evolutionary and metagenomic analysis of candidate genes relevant to the homeostasis of the gastrointestinal tract
In the first approach, we are investigating the evolution of disease-associated genes and their influence on the intestinal microbiota in both humans and mice. Of particular interest are blood-group related glycosyltransferases, as they are highly expressed in the GI tract, are frequent targets of selection and are often associated with trade-offs in relation to resistance to pathogens and susceptibility to disease. Current work focuses on the glycosyltransferase gene B4galnt2 (formerly Galgt2) in house mice, where two highly divergent alleles confer different tissue-specific expression patterns (intestinal epithelial- or blood vessel endothelial expression), are associated with disease, and display evidence of being under balancing selection. The influence of different B4galnt2 expression patterns on the intestinal microbiota is currently being investigated using high throughput metagenomic techniques (including 454 GS-FLX sequencing).
Host genome-microbiota interaction and its influence on chronic inflammation in house mice
In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Saleh Ibrahim at the University of Lübeck, we are applying metagenomic techniques to characterize the microbial communities of the gut and skin in inbred mouse strains that differ in susceptibility to chronic inflammatory diseases including colitis, arthritis, lupus and epidermolysis bullosa acquisitor. An advanced, 4-way intercross between resistant and susceptible mouse strains is being used to map loci contributing to disease susceptibility and/or host - microbiota interactions. Candidate genes identified by this approach will be studied in the context of host - microbiota coevolution and the evolutionary origin of disease-associated variation.
Host – intestinal microbiota coevolution in the house mouse
This project aims to study the genetic basis of host – intestinal microbiota coevolution using the house mouse species complex as a model system. The subspecies Mus musculus domesticus and M. m. musculus share a common ancestor 300,00 – 800,000 years ago, yet remain only partially reproductively isolated. This enables the divergence in host – microbiota interactions that have occurred since their common ancestor to be studied using genetic approaches. Using high throughput metagenomic techniques, we are identifying species-specific aspects of the intestinal microbiota community composition and structure. To identify loci contributing to differences in the microbiota between host species, QTL mapping will be performed in wild-derived inbred strains.
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Weitere Informationen
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http://www.evolbio.mpg.de/evolgenomics
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© 2012, Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionsbiologie, Plön |
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English
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