Missions

The latitudinal distribution of species depends on their ability to adapt to a gradient of environmental conditions (temperature, seasonality, Zanne et al. 2014). This adaptation determines species ability to persist in tropical and/or temperate regions or to shift their range of distribution and colonize new regions. Determining how species adapt to latitudinal clines will allow to understand how species have been shifting their range to temperate regions during the global cooling of the earth since the Miocene, but also at a much shorter term in the context of the current climate change. There is a recent interest into the molecular adaptation to latitudinal clines (Yeaman et al. 2016, Durmaz et al. 2018, Exposito-Alonso et al. 2019), ), and the objective of the postdoctorate will be to unravel the main molecular mechanisms and major genetic architecture permitting adaptation to latitude.

Activités

The postdoctorate will take advantage of an exceptional dataset of re- sequenced whole genomes gathered with D. Schluter (University of British Columbia) comprising nearly 1,000 individuals of three-spined sticklebacks and 120 individuals of chinook salmons. She/he will study molecular adaptations that would allow the adaptation of lineages on the latitudinal gradient. She/he will specifically identify potential adaptive loci by detecting latitudinal clines in allele frequency across the genomes to study the question: Are those adaptations acquired de novo or are they evolving in parallel from the same genetic architecture in several species? She/he will follow two approaches: (1) studying the list of candidate genes that have been identified in the literature as potentially adaptive to latitude and (2) using genome scans on whole genomes, looking for the SNPs with the strongest association in homologous genes between sticklebacks and salmons (such as the approach ran in Yeaman et al. 2016).

Compétences

The candidate should have a PhD in Biology/Evolutionary Biology and skills in bioinformatics and genomic analyses (GEA and population genomics). Softwares will be R and python scripts, and other bioinformatics tools such as orthoFinder/orthoMCL, GATK, Admixture, … The candidate should be motivated to interact with other scientists, proficient in English, with a good publication record. Early-career postdoc will be favored.

Contexte de travail

He/she will be mainly supervised by Jonathan Rolland (CNRS, at the University of Toulouse), in close collaboration with other several Canadian collaborators (D. Schluter, M. Whitlock, T. Booker, K. Christensen,) and other french collaborators (R. Aguilée, L. Chikhi). Our lab combines genetics/genomics, phylogenetics, niche modelling, paleontology and computational methods to investigate how diversity is distributed on earth and how latitudinal gradients have been shaped through time.
At a local scale, the postdoc will be involved in the organization of seminars/journal clubs in the laboratory Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB). The project will also beneficiate from the rich scientific environment in the laboratory EDB in the university of Toulouse.
Toulouse is the main city in the South-West of France with a living atmosphere, located one hour from the Pyrenees mountains, two hours away from Montpellier and three hours from the Atlantic Ocean

Contraintes et risques

The successful candidate is supposed to move to France (ideally from the beginning of 2024).

Informations complémentaires

Before the 15th of October, please apply on the "Portail emploi" of the CNRS with
(1) a short statement (~1 page) that describes your research accomplishments and motivation for applying, including the contact information for two references (2) a CV. Please also send a copy to Jonathan Rolland (jonathan.rolland@univ-tlse3.fr) as single PDF.

For more information about research in our lab, please visit:
https://jorolland.wordpress.com , https://edb.cnrs.fr and https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RibBKAYAAAAJ&hl=fr