tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495252248554858744.post1295537180103603228..comments2024-02-21T21:14:26.819-08:00Comments on Experimental Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour (EXEB): On powers and pitfalls of "Next-generation sequencing" in ecology and evolutionary biologyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03175724495725111574noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495252248554858744.post-23463171706223553642011-02-21T01:48:11.256-08:002011-02-21T01:48:11.256-08:00Sure Shawn, and as you know we are already using &...Sure Shawn, and as you know we are already using "Next-generation sequencing" in our research, so this was not intended to abandon it entirely. I agree that genome size evolution is quite an important topic (especially in salamanders, many of which have HUGE genomes!), and perhaps this is an area in which next-gen seq. might be especially useful. However, in some other areas, such as in ecological speciation, parallell evolution and studies of "young systems" which are separated by only a few loci, it is already quite clear that next-gen seq. will not solve all the questions about the genetics of adaptation. I think this was also the main point by the blogger "The Molecular Ecologist", which I found really useful and interesting. <br /><br />Also, in multilocus phylogeography I can also see the benefits, as it will be possible to generate a lot of data from many different loci and strengthen the inferences compared to only a few genes ("Gene trees are not species trees" is as true as it ever was).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03175724495725111574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2495252248554858744.post-81568338733448519582011-02-20T12:22:53.999-08:002011-02-20T12:22:53.999-08:00Interesting post, Erik. I agree that genomics isn...Interesting post, Erik. I agree that genomics isn't a silver bullet, and has been over-hyped. But, I also believe (and I think you agree) that the new genomic tools will be very useful. We need nuclear, multi-locus phylogeography, for example. Another example: we need a better understanding of the factors that contribute to genome size, as genome size is correlated with cell size, growth rate, etc. Ultimately, genome size can have serious ecological and phenotypic consequences! There are many, many other uses that are yet to materialize, but I think will. Anyway, no disagreement here with Erik - we need phenomics, we need natural history, and we need well-studied ecological systems to maximize the power of genomic approaches.Shawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15485165714868414800noreply@blogger.com