Toni Gossmann: The great tit genome and its implications for genome evolution

  • Date: Mar 3, 2016
  • Time: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Toni Gossmann from the University of Sheffield
  • For more information, please check http://toni-gossmann.staff.shef.ac.uk/
  • Location: MPI Plön
  • Room: Lecture hall
  • Host: Miriam Liedvogel
AbstractFor over 50 years, the great tit (Parus major) has been a model species for research in evolutionary, ecological and behavioural research - but genomic ressources have been lacking. To close this gap, a high quality great tit reference genome has been assembled to chromosomal level and will play an instrumental role in furthering the integration of ecological, evolutionary, behavioural and genomic approaches in this model species. Here, I will present the results of the great tit genome project and focus in particular on two aspects: (1) We investigate whether a special feature of avian genomes, the highly variable recombinational landscape, modulates the efficacy of natural selection through the effects of Hill-Robertson interference. (2) We provide further insights into the molecular mechanisms behind important traits - in particular, learning and cognition - using whole-genome re-sequences of another 29 individuals from across Europe and the great tit methylome.
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