In collaboration with Martin Lysak (https://www.plantcytogenomics.org/), we sequence and assemble genomes from multiple Biscutella species sharing a common polyploidy event but differing in their chromosome numbers and/or genome sizes. Comparative genomics will shed light on the role of transposable elements, duplicated genes and structural variation on chromosomal divergence and dysploidy during species diversification across Mediterranean to Alpine environments.

Next, we are actively deep sequencing all of the strains for each of the three species using Illumina and PacBio platforms. These large sequence data sets allow us to not only identify single nucleotide variants but to dig deeper into other classes of genetic variation, including insertion/deletions, transposon insertions, genomic rearrangements, short-tandem repeats, and copy number variants. We hope that these additional classes of variation will contribute to our understanding of how genetic variation underlies phenotypic variation and genome evolution.