The impact of range expansions on genomic parasitism in Lepidoptera

Summary: In this project, we will investigate the dynamics of recent genomic parasitism in Lepidoptera. Previous work suggests that Lepidoptera show especially high rates of genomic invasions, but no systematic study of recent horizontal transfer has been attempted. The project will benefit from a unique resource-- a large population genomic data set comparing ~100-year-old and present-day samples from 20 Lepidopteran species.

Using these data, we will: -Characterise the transposable element content of these Lepidopteran species -Test whether range shifts trigger transposable element activity, contrasting species with and without range shifts -Examine each species for evidence of invasions of new transposable elements

-Collect and analyse new sequence data from a subset of the species, to investigate the impact of past encounters with transposable elements