Satellitome analysis in Pyrrhulina species (Characiformes, Lebiasinidae): insights for karyotype and sex chromosome evolution

• Grant number: 22/04964-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: September 29, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo de Bello Cioffi
• Grantee: Renata Luiza Rosa de Moraes
• Supervisor: Thomas Liehr
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/25045-3 - Chromosomal evolution, genetic diversity and demographic history in species of the genus Pyrrhulina (Characiformes, Lebiasinidae), BP.DD

Abstract

The student has developed 24 months of the project entitled "Chromosomal evolution, genetic diversity and demographic history in species of the genus Pyrrhulina (Characiformes, Lebiasinidae)" (FAPESP 2019/25045-3) and the achieved results were published 2 articles both in the journal Frontiers in Genetics (IF=4,599) (Moraes et al., 2021 and Ferreira et al., 2022). Up to now, conventional (Giemsa and C-banding) and molecular cytogenetic procedures (chromosomal mapping of multigene families and some microsatellite repeats, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and whole chromosome painting (WCP) were realized, enabling the karyotype description of five Pyrrhulina species (P. marilynae, Pyrrhulina aff. marilynae, P. obermulleri, Pyrrhulina sp., Pyrrhulina cf. laeta). Besides, genetic diversity studies coupling population genomics with cytogenetic data were also performed, highlighting the whole of sex chromosomes emergence in fostering speciation. Thus, considering the good progress of the project and the student's involvement in other laboratory experiments, we aim to deepen into multipronged and modern molecular cytogenetic approaches, including i) the isolation, characterization, and mapping of a satellite DNA library; ii) the microdissection of chromosomes for WCP experiments, and iii) multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) investigations. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary processes involving the sex chromosome system and karyotypic variation in Pyrrhulina, and consequently to the understanding of fish genome evolution. The experiments will be performed in the laboratory of Molekulare Zytogenetik (Universitätsklinikum Jena - Germany), headed by Prof. Dr. Thomas Liehr, researcher of global relevance in chromosome microdissection and multicolor FISH. In addition, besides the expected scientific advances, this proposal will provide a unique opportunity for the scientific training of the student, by interaction with renowned group of German research and learning new study methodologies currently employed in Dr. Liehr laboratory. (AU)