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| Xiaochuan Liu |
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I am interested in the evolution and adaptation of animals. What fascinates (or tortures) me the most is trying to unveil those genetic signals behind animals’ response to evolutionary pressure. I enjoy using comparative and evolutionary genomics approaches to explore what changes in genomes and how changes influence natural selection pressure. I completed my MSc in Zoology at y (China) where I started becoming interested in genomic analysis. My MSc project revealed rapid and unstable genomic changes caused by polyploidization in teleost fishes. I continued my research career at , involved in several genomics projects including sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), Chinese ginseng (Panax notoginseng), calcareous alga (Halimeda opuntia), and others. That experience deepened my understanding that evolution find ways for organisms to adapt to and survive in their environments, and this leaves traces in genomic changes. Mining, identifying and explaining these changes brings me much fun (sometimes mixed with suffering). Currently, I am doing my PhD work in Ecology at ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ starting from 2024.
PhD research
Brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are one of New Zealand’s most damaging invasive pests. Following introduction from southeast Australia in the 1800s, a population explosion resulted in ~48 million individuals throughout native forest and agricultural pastures. In New Zealand, possums devastate biodiversity and native habitat through their feeding, pollute freshwater supplies with E. coli bacteria, and transmit Bovine tuberculosis (TB) to New Zealand’s dairy and beef cattle.
My PhD work is to investigate specifically genomic changes in Western Australian (WA) possums associated with their toxin resistance to sodium fluoroacetate (also known as1080). By contrast, Eastern Australian (EA) possums barely show that toxin resistance to 1080, and that’s why we can use 1080 in New Zealand to effectively control possum population size. I want to use genomic data to systematically compare WA possum and EA possum, catching every genomic difference that might be meaningful to explain how WA possum evolves toxin resistance whereas EA possum does not. Previous research has found some differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with toxin resistance and in this study, I will go further, attempting to find more potential reasons beyond gene expression. They might be transcription regulation caused by single nucleotide variation, gene duplication or family expansion, selection pressure, or structural variation, most of which are hard to detect using transcriptomic data. To do so, firstly I will make comprehensively genomic comparison between WA possum and EA possum to identify mutation sites and variants, some of which may cause those candidate genes of toxin resistance different to others, then I will put WA possum into the context of marsupial lineage to detect any evolutionary signals reflected by WA possum-specific gene family expansion/contraction and positive selection, exploring whether these signals can be related to toxin resistance. This research will display a broader picture of genomic mechanisms of toxin resistance in WA possum, which could also help possum eradication in New Zealand by monitoring the same potential factors in EA possum, as New Zealand lineages of which are undergoing a strong artificial selection pressure with massive 1080 usage.
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Qualifications
Master of Science / Zoology - Yunnan University, China, School of Life Science
Thesis title ‘Study on the transcriptomes of a carp tetrapod hybrid line’.
Bachelor of Science / Biology - Ludong University, China, School of Life Science
Publications
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