Dissertation Research: Phenological interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana--natural variation and natural selection

论文研究：拟南芥物候相互作用——自然变异与自然选择

• 批准号: 0807973
• 负责人: Elena Kramer
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-15 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0807973&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Phenological; interactions; Arabidopsis

Plants adapt to changing climate primarily by altering their seasonal life phase transitions, such as the timing of germination and the timing of flowering. Thus, a major question regarding plant responses to environmental change concerns the genetic basis and adaptive significance of these responses. For annual plant species, the timing of germination and flowering are especially important because they influence each other both environmentally and genetically. Very little is known, however, about the genes that underlie natural variation in their response to seasonal environments, especially for germination timing. This research combines the measurement of natural selection in the field and molecular-genetic analysis to test hypotheses about the genetic basis of natural variation in life cycle responses to seasonal conditions in the annual plant Arabadopsis thaliana, and to examine how different genes interact to determine its overall fitness. The project investigates fundamental genetic mechanisms of variation as a function of seasonal factors that vary with dispersal and climate change. The work therefore has relevance to predicting dynamics of introduced weedy species dispersed over a broad geographic range, as well as predicting their responses to environmental change. The project also contributes to an ongoing international collaboration with scientists in Germany and Spain.

植物主要通过改变其季节性生命阶段的转变来适应不断变化的气候，例如发芽时间和开花时间。因此，关于植物对环境变化的反应的一个主要问题涉及这些反应的遗传基础和适应性意义。对于一年生植物物种来说，发芽和开花的时间尤其重要，因为它们在环境和遗传上相互影响。然而，人们对导致它们对季节环境的自然变化的基因知之甚少，尤其是对发芽时间的反应。这项研究结合了现场自然选择的测量和分子遗传分析，以检验一年生植物拟南芥生命周期对季节性条件的反应自然变异的遗传基础的假设，并研究不同基因如何相互作用以确定其整体健身。该项目研究了随扩散和气候变化而变化的季节性因素的变异的基本遗传机制。 因此，这项工作与预测分布在广泛地理范围内的引入杂草物种的动态以及预测它们对环境变化的反应相关。该项目还有助于与德国和西班牙科学家正在进行的国际合作。