Projects
The role of founder effects and genetic diversity of introduced populations in explaining the invasion success of non-native species. University of Antwerp
Exploration of genetic diversity, drought tolerance and Fusarium resistance of wild bananas in Vietnam. KU Leuven
Bananas accommodate the fourth most important global food commodity grown in more than 130 countries in tropical and subtropical regions. Global climate change and the everlasting demand to feed a continuously growing world population puts an increasing pressure on banana breeding and cultivation. In an era of globalization and climate change, it is important that novel and superior alleles are identified and conserved from wild relatives of ...
Population genetic structure and cryptic diversity in free-living marine nematodes: descritpion and implications for population and ecosystem functioning Ghent University
This projects investigates the population genetic structure and cryptic diversity of selected free-living marine neamtode species using a combined molecular - morphological - morphometric approach. In addition, functional implications of genotypic diversity within known morphospecies are experimentally studied. Finally, the relationship between genetic diversity and the fitness, resistance and resilience of nematode populations is empirically ...
Integrating within-host genetic diversity and spatiotemporal data in phylogenetic reconstructions of RNA virus transmission KU Leuven
Viral diseases represent important threats, not only to public health but also to global and regional socio-economic networks. Their effective prevention and mitigation can only be achieved by understanding viral transmission dynamics. A critical tool in the hand of researchers and public health workers to achieve this goal is phylogenetic reconstruction, which is based on viral genetic information and allows the probabilistic reconstruction ...
DNA-barcoding in marine nematodes and the role of genetic diversity for the stability of populations under habitat disturbances Ghent University
Nematodes are the most abundant and diverse phylum in the marine environment. DNA sequences will be tested to enable rapid identification of nematode species. In addition, the genetic composition of populations will be used to explore dispersal abilities of nematodes and to start experiments aiming at investigating the link between genetic diversity and population resistance against habitat disturbances.
Genetic diversity of rotaviruses and co-segregation of rotavirus gene segments in reassortants. KU Leuven
CanIFreeze project: A tool to increase genetic diversity in Belgian pedigree dogs Ghent University
Dogs exhibit a high number of recognized genetic diseases and this can be partly explained by the loss of genetic variability induced by mating of related animals. The breeding strategy in dogs needs therefore to be optimized. Increasing the number of reproducers can be one of the solutions. Therefore, we want to start an open canine semen bank with frozen semen, based on semen donations like in humans. Frozen semen has several advantages: it ...
Genetic characterization of the S-locus in pear (Pyrus communis): exploiting haplotype diversity to characterize the functional role of SFBBs in the S-RNase-based GSI system KU Leuven
Pear, like many other Rosaceae species, exhibits an S-RNase-dependent gametophytic self-incompatibility system (GSI) that inhibits fertilization by self- or cross-incompatible pollen. The GSI system in Pyrus species is regulated by a polymorphic S-locus which contains a stylar expressed S-RNase gene and multiple S-locus F-box (SFBB) genes that are expressed in the pollen. However, despite extensive characterization of the female S-RNase ...
Titel: Disentangling the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in the brown alga Dictyota in relation to patterns of geographic population genetic structuring and hybridization Ghent University
The project aims to characterize the diversity of the brown algal genus Dictyota in European seas, using molecular phylogenetic techniques and microsatellites.