Plant Genome Evolution and Diversification

Despite evidence pointing to gene duplication, transposition and epigenetic changes going along with plant diversification, the evolutionary significance of such genome dynamics remains elusive. Our work thus integrates evolutionary ecology and genomics to better understand speciation and adaptive radiation under changing environments.

Our projects often (but not only) use polyploid speciation as a model process integrating genomic and ecological changes. They combine high-throughput genomic technologies with experimental and empirical field studies to untangle the genetic and ecological drivers of diversification in alpine and Mediterranean plant populations.

• The phylogeographic structure of Arabis alpina in the Alps shows consistent patterns across different types of molecular markers and geographic scales
  Rogivue, Aude; Graf, René; Parisod, Christian; Holderegger, Rolf; Gugerli, Felix (2018)
  Alpine Botany, 128(1):35-45. Springer https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-017-0196-8 2018
• Multiscale landscape genomic models to detect signatures of selection in the alpine plant Biscutella laevigata 
  Leempoel, Kevin; Parisod, Christian; Geiser, Celine; et al. 
  ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 8 (3): 1794-1806; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3778 FEB 2018
• Jumping genes: Genomic ballast or powerhouse of biological diversification 
  Choudhury, Rimjhim Roy; Parisod, Christian 
  MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, 26 (18): 4587-4590, https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14247 SEP 2017
• Phylogeography of the moonwort fern Botrychium lunaria (Ophioglossaceae) based on chloroplast DNA in the Central-European Mountain System 
  Maccagni, Alessio; Parisod, Christian; Grant, Jason R. 
  ALPINE BOTANY, 127 (2): 185-196; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-017-0188-8 OCT 2017
• Resolving fine-grained dynamics of retrotransposons: comparative analysis of inferential methods and genomic resources 
  Choudhury, Rimjhim Roy; Neuhaus, Jean-Marc; Parisod, Christian 
  PLANT JOURNAL, 90 (5): 979-993; http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13524 JUN 2017 
  Document Type: Article (Details)
• Benefits from living together? Clades whose species use similar habitats may persist as a result of eco-evolutionary feedbacks 
  Prinzing, Andreas; Ozinga, Wim A.; Brandle, Martin; et al. 
  NEW PHYTOLOGIST, 213 (1): 66-82, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14341 JAN 2017

Research topics

• Mechanisms of reproductive isolation and speciation
• Polyploidy (hybridization and whole genome duplication)
• Transposable elements and genome dynamics
• Landscape genetics and adaptation to environmental heterogeneity
• Alpine botany

Interdisciplinary

• Integration of genetic variation with environmental heterogeneity at high resolution
• Characterization of genetic resources in wild relatives of crop species
• Genetic diversity for the monitoring of rare endemics or ill-defined species