PRE2023- Genomic changes underlying domestication: novel hypotheses based on edible insects mass-reared within the EU (PID2022-142607NA-I00)

Palaeogenomics has revealed when, where and who domesticated traditional livestock. What molecular pathways and evolutionary mechanisms trigger domestication, however, is still an open and hotly-debated question. This proposal will leverage edible insects as innovative model, to directly monitor a new wave of domestications for first time in history. Insects sampled forward in time will be co-analyzed together with specimens from entomological collections, representing past archives of genetic diversity. The resulting time-stamped genomic series will document the evolutionary trajectory of four lines of Tenebrio molitor, prior to and during their domestication, based on often-ignored dimensions of diversity, including nucleotide, epigenomic and structural variation. The PhD candidate will be in charge of analyzing the genomic data sets to identify shifts in natural selection, associated with early and later domestication stages, a task that will include the implementation of novel computational methods tailored to ancient DNA.