Genome evolution
The study of genome evolution involves studies such as structural analysis of the genome (evolution of its size, gene content etc), gene and genome duplications and comparative genomics.
The fungus Heterobasidion annosum is the most destructive pathogen in boreal and temperate conifer forests of the northern hemisphere. It is useful in genome evolution research due to it's small genome size (photo by Jonàs Oliva).
We use species from the Heterobasidion species complex as model organisms for this work. Current high throughput sequencing methods combined with the small genome sizes of fungi provides a sweet spot where the complete genomes of large numbers of individuals and related species can be compared in order to address questions of how and why the DNA sequences change over time.
People involved:
Mikael Brandström Durling (PhD, contact person)
Kajsa Himmelstrand (PhD student)
Nils Högberg (PhD)
Magnus Karlsson (PhD)
Jan Stenlid (professor)