Modification of the ABC Program and the Evolution of Floral Novelty

ABC程序的修改与花艺新奇的演变

• 批准号: 1121005
• 负责人: Elena Kramer
• 金额: $ 55万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2014-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1121005&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Modification; ABC; Program; Evolution; Floral

The variety of life-from apples to zebras-is beautiful, engaging and excites the imagination. The question of how different forms arise is one of the most fascinating and important in all of biology. The flowering plants offer a wonderful opportunity to investigate the genetic basis evolutionary novelty, especially in the context of unique forms of floral organs. Most flowers display a standard set of organs-sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels-but some have evolved fifth organ types. This project uses the new model system Aquilegia (columbine) to understand the genetic basis of novel floral organ identity and elaboration. In columbines, standard floral organs may develop fantastic new features, such as petal nectar spurs that vary in length from a few mm to over 12 cm. The project builds on previous studies to understand i) how gene duplication has contributed to the evolution of a fifth, distinct form of floral organ, the staminodium; ii) what other genetic changes contributed to the evolution of the staminodium; and iii) how development of Aquilegia's petal nectar spurs is controlled from a hormonal and genetic standpoint.Training our next generation of scientists requires getting students excited about the scientific process and familiarizing them with the real day to day practice of science. Genetic annotation of the recently sequenced Aquilegia genome will be used as the basis for a lecture/lab module in the Crimson Summer Academy, a summer program at Harvard for academically talented high school students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds. This program will engage students with a wide range of topics including gene and genome organization, gene evolution and the process of writing a publishable scientific article.

从苹果到斑马，各种各样的生命是美丽的、引人入胜的、激发想象力的。不同形式如何产生的问题是整个生物学中最令人着迷和最重要的问题之一。开花植物为研究遗传基础进化新颖性提供了绝佳的机会，特别是在花器官的独特形式的背景下。大多数花都有一套标准的器官——萼片、花瓣、雄蕊和心皮——但有些花已经进化出了第五种器官类型。该项目使用新的模型系统耧斗菜（耧斗菜）来了解新型花器官特征和阐述的遗传基础。在耧斗菜中，标准花器官可能会发展出奇妙的新特征，例如长度从几毫米到超过 12 厘米不等的花瓣花蜜刺。该项目以之前的研究为基础，旨在了解 i) 基因复制如何促进第五种独特形式的花器官——雄蕊的进化； ii) 还有哪些其他基因变化促进了雄蕊的进化； iii) 如何从荷尔蒙和遗传的角度控制耧斗菜花瓣花蜜刺的发育。培养下一代科学家需要让学生对科学过程感到兴奋，并让他们熟悉真正的日常科学实践。最近测序的耧斗菜基因组的基因注释将用作 Crimson 夏季学院讲座/实验室模块的基础，Crimson 夏季学院是哈佛大学的一个暑期项目，面向来自经济困难背景的有学术才华的高中生。该项目将使学生接触广泛的主题，包括基因和基因组组织、基因进化以及撰写可发表的科学文章的过程。