Genetic and genomic analyses using RADseq

 

This hands-on course aims to introduce RADseq as a genomic method to investigate population structure and phylogenetic relationships in model and non-model organisms. We will exemplify the method by using a system of mountain and alpine ecotypes of Heliosperma pusillum in Southeastern Alps. These are ecologically and morphologically distinct units, but previous data suggested that their evolutionary history does not feature a single divergence event between them.

 

 

We will therefore aim here to adress the following aspects:

  1. What is the population structure and the reationships between ecotypes/populations?
  2. How many origins of one ecotype from the other are there and what is their direction (i.e., A -> M or M ->A)?
  3. Are the reduced sizes of the mountain populations reflected in their genetic patterns?
  4. Are there signs of gene flow between populations at the local level (i.e., along the altitude on the same mountain) and/or at the ecotype level (i.e., on the horizontal)?

More details about our running project and the literature and a press release relevant for it are available here.