Artboard 11

GMI: Magnus Nordborg awarded an ERC Advanced Grant

Magnus Nordborg has been awarded a €2.5M ERC Advanced Grant to study the causes of epigenetic variation in the global Arabidopsis population and its evolutionary significance. This is Magnus' second ERC Advanced Grant.

Epigenetics continues to fascinate, especially the notion that it blurs the line between “nature and nurture” and could make Lamarckian adaptation via the inheritance of acquired characteristics possible. That this is in principle possible is clear: in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress), experimentally induced DNA methylation variation can be inherited and affect important traits. The question is whether this is important in nature. Recent studies of A. thaliana have revealed a pattern of correlation between levels of methylation and climate variables that strongly suggests that methylation is important in adaptation.

However, somewhat paradoxically, the experiments also showed that much of the variation for this epigenetic trait appears to have a genetic rather than an epigenetic basis. This suggest that epigenetics may indeed be important for adaptation, but as part of a genetic mechanism that is currently not understood. The goal of this project is to determine whether the global pattern of methylation has a genetic or an epigenetic basis, and to use this information to elucidate the ultimate basis for the global pattern of variation: natural selection.


Contact:
James Matthew Watson
+43 1 79044 9101
james.watson(at)gmi.oeaw.ac.at

The sender takes full responsibility for the content of this news item. Content may include forward-looking statements which, at the time they were made, were based on expectations of future events. Readers are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements.

As a life sciences organization based in Vienna, would you like us to promote your news and events? If so, please send your contributions to news(at)lisavienna.at.