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SUMMARY:Understanding the Genomic Basis of Adaptation to Extreme Environme
 nts
DTSTART:20131101T141500
DTSTAMP:20260924T071717Z
UID:6612d683ee0989ecb1054411f2ed4bd61829bf06be8a59cfd6bb4b29
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Joanna L. Kelley\, Washington State University\, Pullman
 \, WA (USA)\nBio: Dr. Kelley is currently an Assistant Professor in the Sc
 hool of Biological Sciences and a member of the Center for Reproductive Bi
 ology at Washington State University. She received her PhD in Genome Scien
 ces from University of Washington with advisor Willie Swanson and held pos
 tdoctoral positions at University of Chicago in Human Genetics with Molly 
 Przeworski and at Stanford University in the Department of Genetics with C
 arlos Bustamante. Joanna’s research focuses on the genomic basis of adap
 tation\, with a special emphasis on extreme environments.\nOrganisms inhab
 it most of the globe and have adapted to all types of extreme environments
 . By analyzing genomes of organisms adapted to extreme environments we aim
  to understand the genomic basis of adaptation. Here we take two approache
 s by studying the genome of a fly living in Antarctica and transcriptomes 
 of fish living in sulfidic streams. B. antarctica has the smallest insect 
 genome sequenced thus far\, a feature that offers insights on genome evolu
 tion. With a similar number of genes compared to other Diptera\, this unus
 ually small genome shows a very low repeat density. The few transposable e
 lements present in the genome are mainly ancient inactive retroelements. A
  reduction of intron length further contributes to the small genome size. 
 I will also discuss fish living in sulfidic streams. Multiple populations 
 of Poecilia fish have adapted to hydrogen sulfide-rich springs from ancest
 ral freshwater streams\, making them an ideal system to study the reproduc
 ibility of the evolutionary process. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) interrupts the
  mitochondrial respiratory chain and is also associated with severe hypoxi
 a\, and therefore highly toxic. The high level of dissolved H2S suggests t
 hat gills are one of the relevant tissues where changes associated to the 
 adaptation to H2S might occur. Transcriptome RNA-sequencing data from gill
 s provides unique evidence for the genomic and transcriptional basis of ad
 aptation to this extreme environment. We extracted RNA from 36 individuals
  of Poecilia mexicana and P. sulphuraria\, 12 from each of three drainages
  with replicated sulfidic (n=6) and non-sulfidic (n=6) locations. De novo 
 transcriptome assembly is accomplished by combining data across individual
 s.Comparing transcriptional changes across replicated pairs of sulfidic an
 d non-sulfidic populations\, we identify convergent evidence of differenti
 al expression. Our analysis shows that over 5% of genes exhibit significan
 t differential expression in all drainages\, when all pairs of sulfidic an
 d freshwater streams are assessed.
LOCATION:SV1717A http://map.epfl.ch/?room=sv1717a
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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