The fitness consequences of inbreeding in wild flax. (Durham)

This project aims to improve our understanding of inbreeding and its relationship with fitness, a fundamental aspect of evolution. We will use wild flax as a model to study this important relationship, thereby raising the possibility of rapidly translating results into sustainably enhancing agricultural production via genetic improvement of crops. Our research in wild flax will reveal the extent to which natural selfing leads to purging and the development of a genome more resistant to inbreeding depression. We will use new genotyping by sequencing technologies to obtain an unprecedented genome-wide perspective on inbreeding and its evolution, allowing the identification of relevant genes, and therefore the consideration of molecular mechanisms. Inbreeding is widely understood to reduce fitness through both the expression of recessive deleterious alleles in homozygotes, and through over-dominant allelic interactions. Even naturally highly inbreeding organisms cannot completely purge their genetic load by selection because of faster drift at reduced effective population size. For many crops, including flax, elite lines have been intensively inbred to optimize the stable expression of desirable traits. However, these same lines then suffer inbreeding depression as studies of flax have found up to 91 % heterotic increases in F1 seed yield following controlled crosses. However, the agronomic potential of heterosis has only been fully realized in hybrid varieties of maize so far. Only recently have genotyping technologies advanced to a stage where it is possible to test the long-held hypothesis that heterozygosity positively correlates with fitness using genome-wide data for many individuals of non-model organisms. Initial results are encouraging but more research is needed in organisms showing a wider range of mating systems and population structures to better understand the fitness consequences and genetic basis of inbreeding.

For further information see the website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/biosciences/

To apply:
Please submit a full CV and covering letter directly to [Email Address Removed]