Genomics of diversity and adaptation in great tits (Parus major)

这个进化遗传学项目将使用最先进的基因组学工具来研究生态模式生物--大山雀(Parus Main)--的自然选择特征。这项研究将集中在一个汇编的数据集上，在这个数据集中，来自欧洲和亚洲20多个不同大山雀种群的500,000多个单核苷酸多态(SNP)标记已经在&gt；2000鸟类中输入。博士项目有几个目标：首先，将描述大山雀种群的遗传结构，以深入了解当代种群的进化史。其次，将识别高度分化的基因组区域，以推断局部适应是如何发生的。最后，将通过确定哪些表型性状受到通过自然选择而经历适应性进化的基因组区域的影响来调查局部适应的原因。该研究项目将最先进的基因组学技术与艰苦的野生鸟类生态学研究相结合，以解决进化遗传学中的基本主题-数量性状的遗传结构，面对选择保持遗传变异，以及局部适应的遗传基础。在许多方面，该项目可以被视为著名的人类HapMap基因组项目的生态等价物，目的是产生一个伟大的山雀HapMap，首先描述一种野生脊椎动物。这项生物信息学研究将利用生态学家、遗传学家和基因组生物学家组成的合作网络，研究整个物种分布的大型山雀种群。首席主管乔恩·斯莱特与曾凯(谢菲尔德)、本·谢尔顿(牛津大学)、马塞尔·维瑟(荷兰生态研究所)和马丁·格罗宁(瓦格宁根大学)在大山雀种群遗传学方面进行了合作。研究小组定期交换资源、数据集和想法。此外，副主管Kanchon Dasmahaptara在使用下一代基因组数据集了解鳞翅目，特别是赫利柯斯蝴蝶的基因流、适应、物种形成和适应导入方面拥有相当的专业知识。

This evolutionary genetics project will use state-of-the-art genomics tools to study signatures of natural selection in an ecological model organism, the great tit (Parus major). The study will focus on a complied dataset, where more than 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers have been typed in >2000 birds, from more than 20 different great tit populations across Europe and Asia. The PhD project has several objectives: First, the genetic structure of great tit populations will be described, to gain insight into the evolutionary history of contemporary populations. Second, genomic regions of high divergence will be identified, to infer how local adaptation has occurred. Finally, the causes of local adaptation will be investigated by identifying which phenotypic traits are affected by regions of the genome that have undergone adaptive evolution by natural selection. The research project combines state-of-the-art genomics technology with painstaking ecological studies of wild birds, to address fundamental topics in evolutionary genetics - the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, the maintenance of genetic variation in the face of selection, and the genetic basis to local adaptation. In many ways the project can be thought of as an ecological equivalent of the famous human HapMap genome projects, with the aim to produce a great tit HapMap, to first describe a wild vertebrate. This bioinformatics research will make use of a collaboration network of ecologists, geneticists and genome biologists studying great tit populations across the species entire distribution. The primary supervisor Jon Slate collaborates on great tit population genetics with Kai Zeng (Sheffield), Ben Sheldon (Oxford), Marcel Visser (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) and Martien Groenen (Wageningen University). The research groups regularly exchange resources, datasets and ideas. In addition, the co-supervisor, Kanchon Dasmahaptara has considerable expertise in using next-generation genomics datasets to understand gene flow, adaptation, speciation and adaptive introgression in lepidoptera, especially in Heliconius butterflies.