Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/V003852/1
NSFDEB-NERC; Collaborative Resource; A phytochemical "tug-of-war" and its impact on organismal diversification and niche occupancy in Caryophyllales
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr S Brockington, University of Cambridge, Plant Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Cambridge, Plant Sciences
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Panel C
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Gene expression
- Biochemistry & physiology
- Biochemistry & physiology
- Enzymology
- Genetic variation
- Environmental Physiology
- Metabolism
- Plant physiology
- Plant responses to environment
- Abiotic stress (plants)
- Plant responses to environment
- Abstract:
- Our proposed work seeks to understand the step-wise evolution of complex specialized metabolic traits in flowering plants, and to explore how the evolution of such traits influence subsequent adaptation and diversification in flowering plants. To address these questions, we will focus on the flowering plant order Caryophyllales, which is well recognized for extraordinary adaptations to extreme environments and unusually high diversity of metabolites derived from the amino-acid Tyrosine. Our central hypothesis is that changes in availability and abundance of Tyrosine in Caryophyllales has led to the evolution of numerous lineage-specific tyrosine-derived metabolites that in turn has profoundly influenced the adaptation and diversification of species within Caryophyllales. To test this hypothesis, we will build an evolutionary framework for Caryophyllales, that integrates transcriptomic, genomic, and metabolic datasets, with patterns of trait evolution, on a macroevolutionary scale. Specifically, we will: 1) perform an extensive survey to establish the occurrence and distribution of tyrosine-derived metabolic traits across Caryophyllales; 2) examine the association of these tyrosine-derived metabolic traits with organismal adaptation and diversification patterns; and 3) determine the evolutionary genetic mechanisms responsible for the biosynthesis of these metabolites. On completion of the proposed work, we expect to have comprehensively described the extent of tyrosine-enriched metabolism in Caryophyllales, to have defined the degree to which they are associated with organismal diversification patterns across Caryophyllales, and to have resolved the stepwise evolutionary assembly of the genetic pathways underlying complex tyrosine-derived metabolic traits. Understanding the evolution of complex traits is a fundamental challenge for biologists, as the stepwise fashion by which such traits have evolved is not always readily apparent. Furthermore, the connections between the various stages of complex trait assembly (e.g. genetic, biochemical, and morphological) and subsequent organismal diversification patterns are not well explored, with methodological approaches still in their infancy. Recent advances in phylogenetics, with the integration of -omic scale data, now provide timely opportunities to marry the assembly of complex traits with lineage-specific and nichespecific organismal diversification. Specialized metabolites are chemicals that confer adaptive advantages in certain ecological and evolutionary contexts. The stepwise nature of the biosynthetic pathways underlying complex specialized metabolites ensure that they are especially tractable for reconstructing stepwise evolution of complexity. While the phylogenetically restricted distributions of specialized metabolites are fundamental to resolving the influence of complex traits on niche-specific and lineagespecific organismal adaptation and diversification. Our approach, using the tyrosine-enriched specialized metabolism in Caryophyllales as a model system, therefore has the potential to lead to new and fundamental insights into the causes and consequences of the evolutionary assembly of complex traits at a variety of evolutionary scales.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/V003852/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Completion
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Lead Agency Grant
This grant award has a total value of £242,715
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £45,912 | £92,364 | £11,057 | £21,591 | £65,165 | £2,916 | £3,714 |
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