Phylogeny of Triticeae

谷物部落是一组草，包括三个最重要的农作物属：小麦(小麦)、大麦(大麦)和黑麦(黑麦)。这些属中的每一个都得到了广泛的研究。该部落还包括34个其他属，其中一些是主要的牧草，其中许多具有适宜引入谷类植物的遗传特征(如耐盐性、抗旱性)。这些非作物属的知名度要低得多。当涉及到亲缘关系密切的植物时，通过植物育种进行基因转移最成功。因此，对于小麦、大麦和黑麦如何在系统发育上相互联系以及与部落其他成员之间的关系进行严格的建模将是有用的。关于谷类部落的花和叶结构有大量的数据集，但这些数据在系统发育上是模棱两可的，而且没有足够的特征来衡量可信的相关性。这项研究将超越花和叶的数据，探索这些植物的DNA变异。初步数据表明，叶绿体DNA序列或这些序列的样本可以与部落成员进行比较，并将提供哪些物种与主要作物关系最密切的估计。此外，由于DNA可以从非常年轻的植物中提取，这将提供一种早期识别植物的方法，否则只能在开花时才能识别出这些植物。亲缘关系的估计和DNA标记都将为植物育种者提供重要的工具。一个额外的好处是关于植物DNA总体结构的信息，以及它在不同植物群中的变化情况。

The cereal tribe is a group of grasses that includes three of the most important genera of crop plants: Triticum (wheat), Hordeum (barley), and Secale (rye). Each of these genera has been extensively studied. The tribe also includes 34 other genera, some of which are major forage grasses and many of which have genetic characteristics that would be desirable to introduce into the cereal grasses (e.g. salt tolerance, drought tolerance). These non-crop genera are much less well-known. The transfer of genes through plant breeding is most successful when it involves closely related plants. Therefore, it would be useful to have rigorous models of how wheat, barley, and rye are phylogenetically related to each other and to other members of the tribe. There is a substantial data set available on floral and leaf structure for the cereal tribe, but these data are phylogenetically ambiguous, and there are insufficient characteristics to measure relatedness with confidence. This study will go beyond the floral and leaf data to explore variation with the DNA of these plants. Preliminary data suggest that the chloroplast DNA sequences, or samples of those sequences, can be compared for the members of the tribe and will provide an estimate of which species are most closely related to the major crops. Also, because DNA can be extracted from even very young plants, it will provide an early way to identify plants that could only otherwise be identified at flowering. Both the estimates of relatedness and the DNA markers will provide important tools for plant breeders. An added benefit will be information on the structure of plant DNA in general and how it varies in different plant groups.