ENvironmental cHANges, Conservation biology, and Evolution – ENHANCE 2024
Dear friends and colleagues,
We are pleased to announce the First Virtual Symposium presented by the Molecular Phylogenetic Lab of the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (DISVA), Polytechnic University of Marche.
The symposium is organized in two sessions “conservation biology” (morning session) and “transposable elements” (afternoon session) in animal species. The former aims to understand how genetic biodiversity is crucial for species resilience; the latter focuses on the role of “transposable elements” in shaping genomes and regulatory networks to allow species adaptation.
Environmental changes are strongly impacting on our Planet causing loss of biological diversity. Many species have reduced population size and are at risk of extinction. It is now recognized the need to manage and conserve biodiversity resources and geneticists are playing an increasingly important role in this field identifying and monitoring the genetic variability. Indeed, genetic diversity is central to the long-term survival of any species since high levels of genetic variability are determinants of future population/species evolution, adaptation, and resilience. Several molecular markers have been adopted for DNA analyses and recently there is an incresing use of whole-genome sequence given its powerful potential of assessment. All these issues will be part of the first session on “conservation biology”.
The afternoon session will be dedicated to Transposable elements, one of the most fascinating component of eukaryotic genome. These are repetitive elements able to move throughout genome by transposition mechanisms. For a long time, they were considered junk DNA. Nowdays, it is recognized their pivotal role in shaping genomes and regulatory networks allowing species adaptation. Moreover, they create genetic biodiversity that is also crucial for species resilience.