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Recombination rate variation and evolution

Award Number: R35GM142849
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2026

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Recombination rate variation and evolution - Abstract Meiotic recombination is necessary for the proper segregation of chromosomes during meiosis, and in creating genetic diversity in populations through the shuffling of alleles. Changes in the number of recombination events, or recombination rate, can thus have impacts on individual organismal health via meiotic failure, and on population fitness by influencing the efficacy of selection. And yet, variation in recombination rate has been documented across the genome, and among populations and species. Despite progress in cataloguing recombination rate variation, how and why recombination rate changes remains largely unknown. The goal of my research program is to investigate the genetic and environmental causes of recombination rate variation, and the consequences of recombination rate variation on genome evolution. Over the next five years, my lab will use experimental evolution and genomics in Saccharomyces yeast to explore three main questions. First, how does the recombination landscape change over short time scales? We are using whole genome sequencing to construct genome wide recombination rates in multiple populations of Saccharomyces uvarum. We seek to identify how the double strand breaks that initiate recombination are repaired as crossover or non-crossover gene conversion events, and how these two types of events are conserved or divergent between populations. This will be the first study to examine evolution in both types of recombination events in multiple populations, offering an unprecedented view of the mechanism underlying recombination rate variation. Second, we are investigating how adaptation to a new environment alters recombination rate. Recombination rate plasticity has been linked to changes in temperature and other environmental factors for many years, but explicit tests of environmental adaptation influencing recombination rate evolution (or vice versa) are missing. We will evolve cold tolerant S. uvarum populations in the lab for increased thermotolerance, and use whole genome sequencing to identify any shifts in recombination rate or the distribution of crossover and non-crossover gene conversion events that occur as a result of adaptation to temperature. Finally, we’re exploring how recombination rate influences the distribution and persistence of introgression in the genome following hybridization. We are evolving admixed strains from 2 diverging populations of S. uvarum with partial reproductive isolation to test the hypothesis that introgression is reduced in regions of low recombination due to selection against weak, negative epistatic interactions. We’ll compare the distribution of introgression in evolved populations to recombination maps to better understand what forces shape genomes in the generations after hybridization. Overall, my research will leverage the benefits of working with the tractable Saccharomyces system to empirically test longstanding hypotheses of how and why recombination changes over time.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $380,000 )
2025	2025	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY	RALEIGH	NC	27695	WAKE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	5	5/14/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$380,000
														Subtotal = $380,000

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $380,000 )
2024	2024	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY	RALEIGH	NC	27695	WAKE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	4	5/14/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$380,000
														Subtotal = $380,000

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $380,000 )
2023	2023	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY	RALEIGH	NC	27607	WAKE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	3	5/16/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$380,000
														Subtotal = $380,000

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $380,000 )
2022	2022	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY	RALEIGH	NC	27607	WAKE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	2	5/5/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$380,000
														Subtotal = $380,000

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $380,000 )
2021	2021	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY	2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY	RALEIGH	NC	27607	WAKE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	1	7/23/2021	NEW	$380,000
														Subtotal = $380,000

Grand Total All Awards = $1,900,000

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Recombination rate variation and evolution

Award Number: R35GM142849

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2026

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