Consibertromics

The global objective of Consibertromics is to determine the historical adaptive value of genomic divergence among trout populations and the role of gene expression and epigenetic patterns on the resilience to environmental changes. 

This objective will be met by:

1. Assessing the evolutionary factors underlying the historical distribution of the native Iberian lineages within and among river basins at genomic level,
2. Identifying local, regional and major climate factors shaping the genome of native trout lineages within and among rivers in the Iberian Peninsula,
3. Determining parallelisms between adaptive variation in response to past and current hybridization from secondary contacts between lineages, and
4. Evaluating the gene expression and methylome divergences among native Iberian lineages and non-native hatchery stocks reared in wild and hatchery conditions.

The scientific specific objectives are: 

• Determining genomic divergence and variability at macro- and microstructural level typifying the native Iberian lineages (AT, DU, ME and AD) and non-native hatchery stocks of AT origin. 
• Identifying brown trout genomic regions and candidate genes under selection within and among Iberian brown trout lineages and river basins
• Identifying parallelisms in latitudinal gradients of SNP variation among rivers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins
• Identifying genomic parallelisms resulting from secondary contacts between trout lineages in the Iberian Peninsula Working Hypothesis 4: The genes, genomic regions and biological functions showing greater resilience to hybridization are similar in current (restocking) and past (secondary contacts) events.
• Evaluating the gene expression and epigenetic (methylome) divergences among native Iberian lineages and non-native hatchery stocks reared in controlled culture conditions.
• Development of a cost-effective molecular tool based on outlier evolutionary (= lineage), hydrographical and gene expression SNPs to allow traceability of wild trout specimens to improve conservation and recovery programs on native Iberian brown trout populations