Speciation and Diversification of Pitcairnia (Bromeliaceae) in the Mountains of Southeast Brazil

• Grant number: 24/01417-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Clarisse Palma da Silva
• Grantee: Clarisse Palma da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Cleber Juliano Neves Chaves ; Diego Mauricio Riano Pachon ; Drielli Canal ; Fábio Pinheiro ; Giovanni Scopece ; Loren Henry Rieseberg ; Lucas Alexandre de Souza Costa ; Luiz Augusto Cauz dos Santos ; Ovidiu Paun

Abstract

Speciation is a continuous and complex process which consists of the gradual accumulation of changes and the evolution of reproductive isolation. Species that hybridize in nature are a powerful system for identifying the processes that shape genomic patterns and maintain species boundaries. Hybridization may also represent an important source of adaptive genetic variation through introgression of selectively favored alleles from one population into another. Compared to temperate regions studies of hybridization in Neotropics are scarse and their role in the diversification is still understudied in the Neotropical floras. In this project, we will use high-resolution genomic data of long and short reads and a set of complex statistics and bioinformatics tools to investigate patterns of genomic differentiation, interspecific gene flow and demographic events of populations of four species of the Pitcairnia (Bromeliaceae) genus found in the Mountains of Atlantic Rainforest, in Southeastern Brazil. These species are extensively studied by our research group and in the present project we will continue previous studies using sequencing techniques that allow the discovery of a larger number of genomic information based on both nucleotide polymorphisms and structural variance. We hope that such deep sequencing technology in combination with enhanced bioinformatic tools will allow us to better understand the genomic patterns of differentiation of allopatric populations and hybrid zones of this group, as well as shed light on the process of speciation with gene flow previously identified by our research team, deepening our understanding on the genetic basis of speciation process in groups of recent adaptive radiation in Neotropical region. (AU)