Abstract
Hybridisation between wild species and their domestic counterparts poses a large risk for the wild population. It may lead to the introduction of deleterious alleles that have been artificially selected for in the domestic species and even lead to complete genetic swamping of the wild genotype, resulting in a de facto extinction of the wild species. Conversely, hybridisation may also result in the introduction of adaptive alleles that provide a fitness advantage in the wild species context. Contact between the two species may also lead to an exchange of viruses, which could have severe health and epidemiological consequences in a non-natural host. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) lives in close contact with, and is subject to hybridisation and potential virus exchange with its domestic congener (Felis catus). Understanding the patterns and drivers of introgression between these two species and the role of virus exchange will be vital for informing conservation efforts of the wildcat. To investigate this, I will collect whole-genome sequencing data from wildcats and apply statistical genomic algorithms to identify regions of adaptive introgression and purifying selection. Furthermore, I will characterise viral genomes from wildcats and use phylodynamics to test for virus exchange between the two species. To accomplish these goals, I will set up a collaboration between labs at the University of Antwerp and University of Liège that specialise in these types of analyses.
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