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“Promiscuity in the Paleozoic: looking back in time with genomics"

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Thursday, 29 April 2021

Video-Recording for any system with MP4-support

- Video.mp4 (ca.0 Mb)

15:15 – 16:15

Abstract:

As products of evolution, genomes document the history of life in a way that

complements the fossil record. Although this genomic record is partially obscured

by the accumulation of mutations, we can nevertheless look back across hundreds

of millions of years by focusing on genomic features that are conserved or slowly

evolving. In this talk we introduce the basic principles of comparative genomics

and use them to trace the elusive ancient events that transformed our invertebrate

ancestors into early vertebrates. These events, which occurred nearly half a billion

years ago, include interspecific hybridization and genome doubling, which are

revealed by a kind of symmetry breaking. Analysis of the complex history of

vertebrate genomes allows us to fill a gap in the fossil record, and points to an

understanding of even more ancient events in the history of animals.

Speaker today: Daniel Rokhsar (Berkeley)