REU: Mechanisms of Non-random Seed Paternity in Wild Radish, Raphanus sativus

尽管大多数植物既作为种子亲本又作为花粉亲本进行繁殖，但在大多数情况下，对控制植物繁殖数量的因素的了解仅限于对种子产生的了解。因为植物产生的花粉通常比种子多，所以作为花粉供体的植物产生种子的能力有很大的差异。这种差异可能是由于花粉来源不同，花粉粒萌发、花粉管生长、胚胎生长和存活的差异造成的。对于任何植物来说，究竟是哪种机制导致了花粉供体成功的差异尚不清楚。本研究将探讨野生萝卜（Raphanus sativus）花粉供体之间受精成功率差异的机制。这项研究将包括使用不同基因型的花粉供体进行实验性杂交，随后测量父系的成功程度，并检查产生这些差异的过程。这项工作将增加对植物繁殖中被忽视的一半的基本认识，即花粉供体的表现。了解控制植物繁殖的因素对于选择作物的持续生产力至关重要。

Although most plants reproduce as both seed parents and pollen parents, knowledge of the factors that control the amount of plant reproduction is, in most cases, limited to understanding of seed production. Because plants generally produce more pollen than seeds, there is an opportunity for extensive variation in ability of plants, acting as pollen donors, to sire seeds. The variation may be produced by differences in pollen grain germination, differences in pollen tube growth, and differences in embryo growth and survival depending on the source of the pollen. Which mechanism actually produces differences in pollen donor success is not known for any plant. This research will examine the mechanisms that produce differences in fertilization success among pollen donors of wild radish, Raphanus sativus. The research will involve experimental crosses using pollen donors of different genotypes followed by measurement of paternal success and examination of the processes that produce those differences. This work will increase basic understanding of the neglected half of plant reproduction, performance of pollen donors. Understanding of the factors that control plant reproduction is essential to selection for continued productivity in crop plants.