Missions

Project title: Mapping the genomic basis of sexually antagonistic traits
Background: Selection in males and females is often antagonistic in that traits favoured in one sex often impose fitness costs to the other, thus creating a conflict between the sexes (Arnqvist and Rowe, 2005). In waters striders, there is a conflict over mating frequency such that high mating frequency favours males but imposes fitness costs on the females (Arnqvist and Rowe, 2005). This opposing selection often results in escalation and arms race between the sexes where males evolve traits that increase and females evolve traits that decrease mating frequency (Arnqvist and Rowe, 2005; Crumiere et al., 2018; Crumiere and Khila, 2019). These sex-specific phenotypes are often called sexually antagonistic traits. While we have a good understanding of antagonistic co-evolution of the sexes at the phenotypic level, our understanding of how this co-evolution operates at the genomic level remains poor. This is primarily due to the dichotomy between models where we understand genetics and those where we understand sexual conflict.
Study model: This project will take advantage of water striders as powerful models for the study of sexual conflict, combined with the genetics and genomics tools we established recently, to identify loci underlying a male sexually antagonistic trait. We focus on a species pair called Gerris buenoi and Gerris odontogaster that can hybridize and whose hybrids are fertile.
Males of Gerris odontogaster possess abdominal spines used to grasp females (Arnqvist, 1989), whereas these spines are absent from Gerris buenoi. The females have evolved concealed génitalia, thus making it hard for males to copulate. The hybrids possess antagonistic traits with intermediate size. The ability to generate hybrids and introgression crosses represents a powerful tool to study the genomic basis of sexually antagonistic traits and, therefore, the genomics of sexual conflict.

Activités

- Conduct genetic crosses for 5 to 8 generations to generate hybrids. These crosses are underway and the fellow will join a team to phenotype, sequence and map male and female traits.
- Fieldwork to sample many populations of Gerris odontogaster across Europe. These populations will be phenotyped and sequenced to associate variation in sexually antagonistic traits to genetic variation.
- In collaboration with existing lab member, the fellow is expected to perform experimental evolution and evolve are re-sequence approaches to trace the frequency of sexually antagonistic alleles.

Compétences

- Evolutionary biology with knowledge of sexual conflict
- Population genetics
- Bioinformatics
- Good communication and writing skills
- Motivation

Contexte de travail

The IGFL is a research unit dedicated to discovery science where we do fundamental research. We aim to understand the role of the genome in mutlicellular organism development, function and evolution with a strong focus on integrative, organism-level research using a diversity of model and non-model organisms.

The unit is composed of research teams sharing a common vision of science and interest for integrative and multi-disciplinary biology. We are training a new generation of scientists and disseminating our research to the wider public. Although our research is fundamental in nature, we also want to continue translating some of our research outputs into potential assets for the economic sector.

We are developing a variety of experimental approaches (bioinformatics /comparative biology/ genetics/ epigenetics/ genomics/ biochemistry/ imaging/ modelling) empowered by scientists with diverse profiles and expertise (geneticists, genomicists, developmental biologists, cell biologists, molecular biologists, evolutionary biologists, paleobiologists, physiologists, biochemists, computational biologists, modelers and bioinformaticians). This multi-disciplinary diversity makes the IGFL a unique and attractive research environment for personnel at all levels, from France and abroad.

Contraintes et risques

Parts of this project require week end visits to the lab to care for animals