Adaptation during biogeographic transitions from the Cerrado to the Caatinga: evolutionary parallelism and idiosyncrasies in independent clades of genus Cereus (Cactaceae)

• Grant number: 20/15161-3
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2021
• End date: November 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Phytogeography
• Principal Investigator: Fernando de Faria Franco
• Grantee: Fernando de Faria Franco
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Humanas e Biológicas (CCHB). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Daniela Cristina Zappi ; Danilo Trabuco do Amaral ; Evandro Marsola de Moraes ; Nigel Paul Taylor
• Associated research grant(s): 23/02136-9 - Evolution Meeting 2023, AR.EXT
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/08069-4 - Toward Understanding Plant Genome Evolution: Characterizing the Repeatome of genus Cereus (Cereeae, Cactaceae) Using Whole-Genome Resequencing Data and Bioinformatic Tools, BP.PD; 24/00183-2 - Standardization and optimization of nucleic acid extraction protocols, BP.TT

Abstract

Here, we will use a genomic and ecological approach to test the hypothesis of parallel natural selection associated with the historical transition from the Cerrado to the Caatinga in two clades of genus Cereus (Cactaceae), with different ages, habitats, and phylogenetic fuse. Considering the distinct climatic and edaphic conditions between the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, the main assumption is that biogeographic transitions involving these biomes must have been associated with adaptive changes and niche evolution, which usually occur in this type of event. The strategy for data collection involves obtaining genetic data (transcriptomes and complete low-coverage genomes) and ecological data (selected phenotypes and ecological niche modeling) for species from two Cereus clades, namely: a) Jamacaru clade (C. jamacaru ssp. jamacaru and C. jamacaru ssp. calcirupicola); b) clade D (C. albicaulis and C. mirabella); in addition to external groups for each clade. Adopting this experimental design and several statistical approaches, it will be possible to test whether there are common signatures of natural selection in the independent transitions from the Cerrado to the Caatinga experienced by the genus Cereus, which could indicate evolutionary parallelism at the level of nucleotide sites, genes, or metabolic pathways. In addition, as the target clades have particularities in relation to occupied niches, it will also be possible to investigate signatures of idiosyncratic adaptations. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FRANCO, FERNANDO FARIA; AMARAL, DANILO TRABUCO; BONATELLI, ISABEL A. S.; ROMEIRO-BRITO, MONIQUE; TELHE, MILENA CARDOSO; MORAES, EVANDRO MARSOLA. Evolutionary Genetics of Cacti: Research Biases, Advances and Prospects. GENES, v. 13, n. 3, p. 22-pg., 2022-03-01. (18/06937-8, 20/15161-3, 19/11233-2)