University Events

Description: Supergenes, combinations of tightly linked loci that underlie distinct yet complex phenotypes, are increasingly recognized as key architectures that facilitate adaptation and speciation. This is because the reduced recombination they provide protects against gene flow and allows specific, synergistic combinations of alleles to remain together. However, although they have been identified across the tree of life, we still don’t understand how supergenes evolve and persist over millions of years. This seminar will highlight the attributes that make supergenes unique from other kinds of genetic variation and demonstrate how merging different kinds of genomic data can help uncover the adaptive variants hidden within supergenes. Location: LIB314, Contact: Genny Kozak, gkozak@umassd.edu