Project description
Studying butterfly toxicity to understand evolution
The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is an incredibly important ecosystem as it offers the habitat for a biodiverse flora and fauna, hosting among others large tropical and subtropical heliconiine-Passiflora communities. Heliconius are toxic butterflies because they contain cyanide-releasing compounds called cyanogenic glucosides, which they can both biosynthesise or uptake from Passiflora plants, their co-evolutionary partner, during larval feeding. The genetic basis of their toxicity and how this varies in different populations remains unexplored. Merging ecology, genetics, biochemistry and evolutionary biology, the EU-funded Cyanide Evolution project will investigate how toxicity and interactions with Passiflora plants has shaped the evolution of Heliconius butterflies.
Objective
The colourful and toxic Heliconius butterflies are well-established models to study evolution of aposematims and mimicry, yet the genetic basis of their toxicity and how this varies in different populations remains unknown. Heliconius are toxic butterflies because they contain cyanide-releasing compounds called cyanogenic glucosides, which they can both biosynthesize or uptake from Passiflora plants, their co-evolutionary partner, during larval feeding. This multidisciplinary project brings together ecology, genetics, biochemistry and evolutionary biology to investigate how toxicity and interactions with Passiflora plants has shaped the evolution of these butterflies. Thus, I will combine the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas with different OMICs approaches (metabolomics, transcriptomics and phenomics) to (1) decipher the genetic and phenotipic bases of cyanogenesis in Heliconius butterflies and (2) unravel the evolutionary trajectory of this defence system in the Heliconiine tribe. Moreover, I will also (3) establish how cyanogenesis vary within and between tropical and subtropical heliconiine-Passiflora communities of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot endangered by extreme deforestation.
This project will give me the unique opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills repertoire on genetics, ecology, evolutionary biology and bioinformatics. I will be trained in advanced techniques such CRISPR-Cas, gene expression analysis, R programing, statistical methods applied to community ecology and matabolomics, etc. Also, during this fellowship I will excel my teaching/supervision, project management and communication abilities. All these expertise will be extremely valuable for the execution of the project and will bring great progress to my career development, increasing my chance of of reaching a long-term position in academia.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry inorganic compounds
- natural sciences biological sciences evolutionary biology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
CB2 1TN Cambridge
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.