ID: 613 / 193

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: SPEEDING UP OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION WITH GENOMICS

Abstract: How organisms adapt to diverse environments, including climate change or new habitats, is a fundamental biological question. High throughput genome sequencing has demonstrated that genome sequences are highly dynamic at inter- and intraspecific level. In particular, diverse elements in the genome (e.g., transposable elements, long non-coding RNA, repeat sequences etc), are important sources of genetic variation on which evolutionary selection can operate. Although it is well-known that either genes or intergenic sequences could shape the adaptive evolution of diverse organisms, the sequences that are associated with adaptation and the underlying cellular and evolutionary mechanisms are largely unknown. The proposed symposium will address these fundamental biological questions. Based on the high throughput and longer sequence reads, it is now possible to deeply decipher these mystery sequences associated with adaptation and clarify their contribution to evolution in general. This symposium will bring together a diverse group of speakers to collectively understanding the theoretical, descriptive and mechanistic understanding of adaptive evolution in plants.

Speaker 1: Sridevi Sureshkumar School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Australia sridevi.sureshkumar@monash.edu Plants to humans - Epigenetic regulation of triplet repeat expansions and adaptation

Speaker 2: Stephen Wright Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Canada stephen.wright@utoronto.ca Population genomics of rapid weed adaptation in Amaranthus

Speaker 3: Yalong Guo Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China yalong.guo@ibcas.ac.cn Adaptive evolution of Arabidopsis and its relatives in the new genomic era

Topics (Up to three): Comparative Genomics / Transcriptomics

Topic 2: Functional Genetics

Topic 3: Population Genetics

Justification: There are huge genetic variations among genomes at either inter- and intraspecific levels. It is eagerly to know which fraction of the genetic variation are associated with adaptation, and how they affect fitness. With the development sequencing technique of high throughput sequencing and longer sequencing reads, and the knock out technique of CRISPR-Cas9, it is possible now to understand the evolutionary forces and functional effect of the “dark matter” in the genome.