Lecturer: Dr Vladimir A. Trifonov, Head of Comparative Genomics laboratory at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (Novosibirsk, Russia) and Lecturer in Genomics (Novosibirsk State University)

Time: Friday, 18th  October 2019, 12.00

Venue: IBISS library

Apstract:

I is well establsihed that vertebrate ancestors have undergone two whole genome duplication events (WGD). Since then a large body of evidence has been accumulated that further supported the theory and considerably broadened our understanding of genome evolution. It was suggested that WGDs might have long-termed evolutionary advantages by increasing functional genomic complexity. Besides, it was demonstrated that some phylogenetic lineages have become highly sensitive to whole genome copy changes, while others are characterized by an increased propensity to polyploidization. Here we overview the distribution of WGD events across studied vertebrate taxa and argue that the most WGD-rich taxon is Acipenseriformes, where five whole genome polyploidy events occurred, and the process is still ongoing. We hypothesize that this might be connected to relaxed pachytene check point in this group and that this group represents a convenient model for studying the role of polyploidy in vertebrates.