Our coasts are rich yet fragile and vulnerable ecosystems prone to disturbance by human activity, pollution and climate change. To conserve these ecosystems effectively, we must understand how organisms respond to environmental stressors and how variation in such responses may afford evolutionary resilience to acute and chronic environmental change.
This project will use the common intertidal beadlet anemone Actinia equina as a powerful model system for examining these issues. Actinia equina is an ecologically important and environmentally sensitive cnidarian. Environmental stressors such as temperature and oil pollution disrupt feeding, reproduction and social behaviour, leading to population perturbation and knock-on effects on intertidal communities. Intriguingly, these behavioural responses vary distinctly between two colour morphotypes that occur in parapatry at different shore heights [1,2]. These morphotypes differ not just in behavioural personality but also in many other phenotypic traits, and molecular studies have proposed that they may, in fact, be separate species [3].
However, it is unknown what genes underpin species divergence in behavioural stress responses, and how spatial structure in molecular diversity at such genes may promote adaptive responses to enduring environmental stress. This project will use a combination of fieldwork, labwork, high-throughput DNA/RNA sequencing, bioinformatics and evolutionary analyses to address questions such as:
1) What is the distribution of colour morphotypes of Actinia equina along Scottish and Irish coasts?
2) What is the genome-wide landscape of divergence between morphotypes?
3) What are the commonalities and differences in gene-expression or epigenetic responses to environmental stress between morphotypes?
4) How is genetic diversity at key genes underpinning stress responses structured in space and is there evidence of more extensive cryptic species divergence?
You will address these questions by:
1) Identifying genome-wide markers that are differentiated between morphotypes, using whole-genome or whole-transcriptome resequencing
2) Maintaining both morphotypes in microcosms and identifying genes that change expression and/or DNA methylation in response to stress
3) Developing a suite of candidate genes and ascertaining spatial genetic structure using phylogeographic and landscape genomics approaches
You will gain comprehensive experience in a range of ‘omics technologies including the very latest DNA/RNA sequencing approaches, coupled with extensive training in bioinformatics and biostatistics analyses. The QUADRAT DTP further provides an extensive training programme for developing transferable professional skills. You will be part of vibrant postgraduate communities at the University of Aberdeen and Queen’s University Belfast. Both institutions provide extensive state-of-the-art research facilities for molecular work, experimental work in microcosms, and high-performance bioinformatics computing.
The project provides an exciting opportunity to address a fundamental issue in marine evolutionary biology using cutting-edge genomics approaches, and will also contribute to a much broader understanding of the evolutionary resilience that will allow organisms to persist and adapt in the face of environmental change. You should have strong interest and ambition in evolutionary biology, genomics and bioinformatics. Previous experience in working with genomics data is desirable but not essential because full training will be provided. You will have the opportunity to develop the project in directions to suit your interests.
More project details are available here:
https://www.quadrat.ac.uk/quadrat-projects/
How to apply:
https://www.quadrat.ac.uk/how-to-apply/
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