Prof. Thomas Flatt Research Group, University of Fribourg ^{Research Labs}

The Research Group is interested in the genomics of adaptation, using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as an experimentally tracable model. The components of fitness, so-called life-history traits (e.g., growth, size, fecundity, survival, lifespan), are fundamentally important for adaptation because they represent the targets of selection at the phenotypic level. However, still little is known about the genetic basis of variation and evolutionary changes in such fitness-related traits. Similarly, the mechanisms that maintain the large amount of genetic variation in fitness components in natural populations remain incompletely understood. The questions they ask in their research group:
What are the loci underlying life-history adaptation?
How does lifespan evolve? What are the costs of longevity?
How do inversions and supergenes shape adaptation?