GENOMINT · Biogeography and natural hybridization in the genus Mentha
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-09-01 → 2021-08-31
- EU contribution
- €200,195
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Biogeography and natural hybridization in the genus Mentha
Saving and promoting biodiversity is one of the greatest challenges humans currently face. Human activities, including plant cultivation, have the potential to drastically change native plant biodiversity. In particular, the release of cultivated taxa into the wild will allow previously isolated taxa to come into contact with each other. This can promote reproduction between closely related cultivated and local species (hybridization) which ultimately can affect the native biodiversity. The evolutionary outcome of hybridization between previously isolated taxa varies greatly. One possibility is that hybridization results in the formation of a new species that is reproductively isolated from its parents. Another possibility is that hybridization results in fertile hybrids. If the reproductive barriers between these hybrids and the parents are weak it is possible that hybridization will continue and that the original species barriers are erased. Hybridization between previously isolated species therefore has a great potential to change plant biodiversity. It is therefore important to study cases where cultivated taxa have escaped into the wild and come into contact with native plants. The overall objective of the GENOMINT project is to understand how hybridization between mint species affects the evolutionary ability and biogeographic history of mints as well as how it contributes to biodiversity. In addition, we aim to understand if hybridization between cultivated and native mints can transfer genetic material associated with human desired characters into local populations. In order to do so we take advantage of the vast plant biodiversity stored in herbarium collections. Technological advances in the past decades have also made it possible to access the genetic information stored in these collections.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Understanding the biogeographic histories of organisms is at the heart of evolutionary, ecological, and conservation research. In plants intraspecific hybridization is a common evolutionary event and a major method for speciation. Hybridization has the ability to create novel large scale genomic combinations. In addition, fertile hybrids with the ability to backcross to its parents can act as genomic highways, mediating gene flow between parental species. Hybridization is therefore a major source of genomic variation and it can act as a mode for unconventional interspecific genetic transmission. However, there is a large knowledge gap in the understanding of the evolutionary and ecological roles hybridization plays and how it affects the biogeographic history and genomic diversity of plants. In this project I will investigate these questions in the plant genus Mentha, which contains many natural intraspecific hybrid species. I will infer the effect of hybridization on dispersal rates and biogeographic history using whole chloroplast genomes from samples obtained from historical collections. Furthermore, I will investigate the effect hybridization have on the genomic diversity within Mentha and how hybridization have shaped the genus’ evolutionary history. Finally I will establish whether Mentha hybrid species act as genomic highways facilitating gene flow between parental species. The results of this fellowship will significantly increase our knowledge of the evolutionary importance of hybridization and its importance for shaping biogeographical patterns and genomic diversities in plants.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union