진학프로석·박사 채용 접수 플랫폼

Context/work environment:

This position is a short-term contract to carry out scientific activities in evolutionary genomics as part of the ‘ARG2EVOL’ project - Using Ancestral Recombination Graphs to understand the evolution of structural variants and their roles in speciation", led by Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire within the European project BIOPOLIS (Teaming to Upgrade to Excellence in Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Research and AgroBiodiversity).

The ARG2EVOL project aims to exploit the information contained in the vast collection of genealogies recorded within the genome to understand the role of chromosomal inversions in the formation of new species. The ancestral recombination graph (ARG) is a powerful tool for representing the genetic ancestry relationships of a population sample and reconstructing its demographic and evolutionary history. By studying marine species with chromosomal inversions involved in ecotype divergence, the project aims to elucidate the evolutionary dynamics of inversions, assess the impact of genetic load on the maintenance of polymorphism, and quantify the role of inversions in reproductive isolation. The study will combine theoretical advances and new empirical data to answer key questions about the evolution of inversions and their contribution to speciation.

Main mission:

The postdoctoral researcher recruited will study the evolutionary dynamics of inversions and their role in speciation and adaptation between divergent ecotypes of rock snails (L. saxatilis). The first phase will involve methodological developments for reconstructing the ancestral recombination graph (ARG) from whole genome sequences, which will be phased using the haplotype tagging method. The postdoctoral researcher will use short read and link read datasets to enable high-quality phasing of around 100 genomes per species. A bioinformatics pipeline will be developed to reconstruct the ARG by comparing different ARG inference methods. The second phase will focus on using information from the ARG to infer the evolutionary history of inversions and their role in speciation. The postdoctoral researcher will develop a method to deduce local genetic ancestry from the ARG in order to measure reproductive isolation within inversions. He/she will also analyse genomes of related species to determine the age and origin of inverted alleles, in order to analyse the dynamics of genetic load accumulation and the evolution of structural variants over the long term. This integrated approach will combine molecular genetics, bioinformatics and evolutionary genomics analysis techniques to address key objectives in understanding speciation in different ecotypes of rock snails.

Activities:

Bioinformatic and statistical analyses of high-throughput genomic sequencing data. Scientific valorisation including writing articles and giving oral presentations at international conferences. Participation in project scientific meetings, exchanges with the project partner (EVOLGEN team, Rui Faria, CIBIO, Portugal). Organisation of the ARGEvol conference/workshop, to be held in November 2025 in Vila do Conde, on the manipulation, inference and use of ARGs in genomics and evolutionary genetics.