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

虽然大多数植物同时作为种子亲本和花粉亲本进行繁殖，但在大多数情况下，对控制植物繁殖量的因素的了解仅限于对种子生产的理解。因为植物通常比种子产生更多的花粉，所以植物作为花粉供体产生种子的能力存在着广泛的差异。这种差异可能是由于花粉粒萌发的差异、花粉管生长的差异以及取决于花粉来源的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捐献者成功与否的差异尚不为人所知。这项研究将探讨野生萝卜花粉供体受精成功率差异的产生机制。这项研究将使用不同基因类型的花粉捐赠者进行实验杂交，然后测量父亲的成功，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了解，即花粉捐赠者的表现。了解控制植物繁殖的因素对于选择作物的持续生产力是至关重要的。

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.