Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100544
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,682.00
Summary
The drivers of genome evolution and diversification in marsupials. This project aims to investigate the impact of the four basic forces of evolution, mutation, selection, neutral drift, and gene flow, on the genome. Genome-scale data have a signature of these forces and extracting it would greatly improve the quality of evolutionary models fit to the data, but the framework to identify the evolutionary forces has not been developed. This project will develop tests for assessing the impact of the ....The drivers of genome evolution and diversification in marsupials. This project aims to investigate the impact of the four basic forces of evolution, mutation, selection, neutral drift, and gene flow, on the genome. Genome-scale data have a signature of these forces and extracting it would greatly improve the quality of evolutionary models fit to the data, but the framework to identify the evolutionary forces has not been developed. This project will develop tests for assessing the impact of the primary evolutionary forces on the genome, and test these methods using simulations. The new framework of genomic analysis will be disseminated through an intuitive software package, and will be used to estimate with unprecedented confidence the history of diversification and genome evolution of marsupials.Read moreRead less
Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. ....Evolving rates: foundations for the next generation of molecular clocks. This project aims to investigate the causes and consequences of variation in rate of DNA sequence evolution across three kingdoms of life. Dates estimated from DNA sequences have a wide range of applications, including evolutionary biology, conservation prioritisation and epidemiology. These methods rely on accurate rate estimates, but current models lack information about the biological drivers of rates of genomic change. This project will test reliability of current methods, identify potentially misleading estimates of disease origin or conservation priorities, and develop new approaches with empirically-informed models of rate change.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100491
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,386.00
Summary
Linking genomic changes to the generation of biodiversity. This project aims to provide a suite of theories, methods and software to enhance our understanding on how the generation of variation at molecular level is linked to the generation of species richness at lineage level. This new approach tests various ways that molecular changes are manifested as patterns of diversification, as revealed by genomic data analysed at the lineage level in phylogenetic studies. Expected outcomes of this proje ....Linking genomic changes to the generation of biodiversity. This project aims to provide a suite of theories, methods and software to enhance our understanding on how the generation of variation at molecular level is linked to the generation of species richness at lineage level. This new approach tests various ways that molecular changes are manifested as patterns of diversification, as revealed by genomic data analysed at the lineage level in phylogenetic studies. Expected outcomes of this project add to a growing body of evolutionary theory and provide practical phylogenetic tools for future analyses. These should benefit Australia by improving our understanding on the formation of Australia’s biodiversity hotspots.Read moreRead less
Origins of a biodiversity hotspot flora: diversification of the Australian Proteaceae. Why does Australia's only biodiversity hotspot, with nearly 3000 endemic plant species, occur in an area with poor soils and low rainfall? This project will analyse DNA sequences from over 1000 plant species of the Australian Proteaceae, many found only in this hotspot, to help us understand the evolutionary and ecological origins of this iconic flora.
Efficient phylogenetic methods that manage the curse of genomic complexity. This project aims to develop new methods and software to infer the evolutionary history of organisms using genomic data. These new phylogenomic methods need to take account of the complexity of evolutionary processes and/or patterns in time (along the evolutionary tree) and space (along the genome). This project is significant because these methods must merge mathematics and statistics with High-Performance Computing to ....Efficient phylogenetic methods that manage the curse of genomic complexity. This project aims to develop new methods and software to infer the evolutionary history of organisms using genomic data. These new phylogenomic methods need to take account of the complexity of evolutionary processes and/or patterns in time (along the evolutionary tree) and space (along the genome). This project is significant because these methods must merge mathematics and statistics with High-Performance Computing to handle the huge quantities of genetic data and the complexity of evolution itself. An important expected outcome of this project will be the development and release of freely-available software that incorporates these new methods. This project expects to benefit scientists who need to infer phylogenies from genomic data. Read moreRead less
New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely nove ....New Molecular Approaches to Comparative Phylogeography. Funds are requested to gather data to test new molecular and analytical approaches in the field of molecular phylogeography. We will generate phylogeographic hypotheses from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA for six species and evaluate the utility of microsatellite data for the reconstruction of phylogeographic history. We will borrow powerful analytical techniques from the field of evolutionary ecology and use them in a completely novel way to test hypotheses of microsatellite diversity. Our research is inter-disciplinary in that we will bridge the gap between molecular phylogenetics and molecular evolution and in so doing make a major advancement in this emerging field.Read moreRead less
Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins th ....Unravelling the molecular diversity and evolution of centipede venoms. The project intends to improve understanding of venom evolution in centipedes. Venoms have emerged as a rich source of pharmacological tools with potential for development into therapeutics and bioinsecticides. However, venoms-based discovery has been limited by the narrow taxonomical range of animals studied, with many groups of venomous animals overlooked. One such group is centipedes, whose venoms contain diverse toxins that differ between taxa. This project aims to provide an insight into centipede venom evolution, and how it might be constrained by venom-gland morphology. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of protein evolution and direct biodiscovery efforts around centipede venom.Read moreRead less
Evolution of Australia's globally unique hotspot of floral diversity. Australia has a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot, the southwest of Western Australia, but this unique eucalypt-dominated flora is threatened. This project will gain new insights into the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain such diversity, their vulnerability; and how the iconic eucalypts came to dominate the Australian landscape.
How are visual gene pathways lost and restored during reptile evolution? This project aims to investigate how complex traits are lost during evolution, and once lost if they can be regained. The project will use the diverse visual systems of snakes and lizards to shed light on the process of gene loss in degenerative lineages, and discover the mechanisms that compensate for gene losses in taxa with secondarily evolved visual capabilities- providing a case of evolutionary re-innovation in complex ....How are visual gene pathways lost and restored during reptile evolution? This project aims to investigate how complex traits are lost during evolution, and once lost if they can be regained. The project will use the diverse visual systems of snakes and lizards to shed light on the process of gene loss in degenerative lineages, and discover the mechanisms that compensate for gene losses in taxa with secondarily evolved visual capabilities- providing a case of evolutionary re-innovation in complex traits.Read moreRead less
New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and ....New approaches to understanding the forces driving convergent evolution. This project aims to address the evolutionary biology question of what drives convergent evolution of morphological phenotypes. Leveraging previous research on the phylogenetics of Australian reptiles and amphibians, the project will apply new methodological and analytical tools for quantifying and evaluating morphological diversity in a phylogenetic context. The project expects to test the influence of climate, habitat and evolutionary history on driving convergent morphological evolution across multiple independent animal groups. The project will address fundamental theories on convergent evolution and will improve public awareness of Australia’s unique animals and their history.Read moreRead less