Dr. Bertrand Fouks
TEEPI: How Transposable Elements drive the Emergence of Phanotypic Innovations?
Dr. Bertrand Fouks
Let’s embark into the long journey of a researcher, from grant writing to public outreach. Throughout a case study, we will get acquainted with EU funding schemes, genomics, transposable elements, cockroaches, and public outreach. After describing the specifics of MSCA funding scheme, I will present the research project centered around the understanding of the genomic basis of the emergence of novel phenotypes, and end on public outreach. How genomes diverge and trigger the onset of organismal diversity remains a central question in biology. Comparative functional genomics have already provided many exciting insights on how genetic novelty and co-option, structural and gene regulatory innovation can lead to phenotypic diversification. Some of the most puzzling genomic innovations are triggered by TEs, mobile genetic elements that were once seen only as genomic parasites. Most host organisms adapted different mechanisms to temper the deleterious effects of TEs, silencing them through a variety of pathways, such as piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Nevertheless, TEs still manage to recurrently colonize genomes over evolutionary time. While most TEs reach fixation within genomes through genetic drift, TEs can promote the ability of populations to adapt to rapidly changing environments, as they can significantly alter phenotypes contrary to point mutations. Despite increasing knowledge on the varying impact of TEs on genome evolution linked with phenotypic innovations, how and which TEs can promote phenotypic diversification remains unclear. To understand how TEs can promote phenotypic innovations, Blattodea is the ideal group of organisms for addressing some importantquestions on how TEs enhance phenotypic innovations and speciation. The evolution of Blattodean genomes, that contain up to 60% repetitive elements, is marked by repeated expansions and contractions of TE copies, which have recently been linked with the expansion of key gene families in the evolution of termites; and Blattodea is a highly diverse insect order, comprising 7 400 species worldwide, that has given rise to many complex phenotypic innovations, such as sub- and eusociality and a broad range of feeding types. TEEPI is set to compare 18 Blattodea genomes which include multiple origins of wood feeding and sociality, concurrently and independently, allowing to strengthen and disentangle evidence for the molecular basis of their emergence. Such phylogeny and comparative genomic analyses will aim to answer: 1) By which mechanism do TEs favour the emergence of wood feeding and increased social complexity leading to the adaptive radiation of Blattodea species? 2) Does the association between specific TE families with different functional categories enhance wood feeding and/or increased social complexity? 3) How has the relationship between TEs and piRNAs evolved and how did it enhance TE-mediated adaptive radiation?
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