Unravelling the mitochondrial role in climate adaptation. The project aims to investigate how mitochondrial genes regulate plasticity—the ability of organisms to rapidly adjust traits in response to e

Description

Unravelling the mitochondrial role in climate adaptation. The project aims to investigate how mitochondrial genes regulate plasticity—the ability of organisms to rapidly adjust traits in response to environmental changes. Using an innovative global-species approach and advanced methodologies spanning evolutionary ecology, ‘omics and bioenergetics, the project seeks to test the novel hypothesis that mitochondrial regulation of plasticity has evolved as an adaptation to climate stress. Expected outcomes include uncovering new genetic mechanisms that can drive species resilience to climate change and buffer against extinction. This should provide significant benefits to biodiversity conservation, by informing best-practice strategies for managing the genetic health of species in a changing world.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Prof Damian Dowling