Ana Afonso, University of Coimbra and University of Seville. Supervisors: João Loureiro, Sílvia Castro, Juan Arroyo. Start in 2016.
Summary:
Polyploidy is widespread in angiosperms and has long been
considered as an important mechanism of speciation. Genome duplications
bear broad-scale consequences on gene expression and developmental
processes, potentially leading to immediate morphological, reproductive
and physiological shifts. Despite the advances in the genetic and
epigenetic consequences of genome duplications, the ecological factors
driving polyploidy and its evolutionary consequences are poorly
understood. The main objective of this PhD project is to explore the
relationship between polyploidy and biological and ecological traits
driving plant divergence. For that, it will be used the Linum
tenuifolium s.l. group, a diploid-polyploid complex that presents
monomorphic and heteromorphic populations and widely unexplored contact
zones between cytotypes. The complexity and geographical setting of this
group offers a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between
ploidy levels and reproductive strategies, namely, how polyploidy
relates with floral polymorphisms (heterostyly), breeding system (self-compability
and self-incompatibility) and ability to hybridize. A vaster ecological
and evolutionary framework will also be pursued, not only to disentangle
the relationship between polyploid and ecological niche differentiation
and competitive ability, but also to clarify the phylogenetic and
phylogeographic relationships between the taxonomic entities of this
group. Overall, this project will enable to understand how polyploidy
may affect several biological and ecological traits that may be involved
in plant diversification and evolution, contributing with relevant clues
for the better comprehension of the adaptive value of polyploidy.