MCF: Measuring the Cost of Resistance in Transgenic and Wild Plants

测量植物对食草动物抗性的内在成本对于评估工程基因在环境中逃逸和持续的可能性以及理解自然选择如何影响自然植物种群中的防御资源分配都是重要的。这项研究将应用两种遗传方法来检验抗性成本假说。首先，通过比较具有相似遗传背景的转基因植物和对照植物的表现，来检验抗性基因对植物生长和资源分配的影响。这项工作将与帝国理工学院(丝克伍德公园)的PROSAMO研究小组合作完成，该小组由迈克尔·J·克劳利博士领导。其次，首席调查员将在没有草食动物的情况下测试化学防御、生长和繁殖之间的负遗传相关性，并检查一种常见杂草(车前草)自然种群中对国防生产的选择效应。这项工作将与科罗拉多大学的迪恩·鲍尔斯博士合作完成，将是将定量遗传分析应用于自然种群植物化学分析的首批研究之一。

Measuring the intrinsic cost of herbivore resistance in plants is important both for assessing the potential for engineered genes to escape and persist in the environment, and for understanding how natural selection acts on defense resource allocation in natural plant populations. This study will apply two genetic approaches to testing the cost of resistance hypothesis. First, the impact of resistance gene on plant growth and resource allocation will be examined by comparing the performance of plants genetically transformed for herbivore resistance with that of control plants of similar genetic backgrounds. This work will be done in collaboration with the PROSAMO research group at Imperial College (Silkwood Park), headed by Dr. Michael J. Crawley. Second, the principal investigator will test for negative genetic correlations among chemical defenses, growth, and reproduction in the absence of herbivores, and examine selection effects on defense production in natural populations of a common weed (Plantago lanceolata). This work, to be done in collaboration with Dr. Deane Bowers at the University of Colorado, will be one of the first studies to apply quantitative genetic analysis to chemical assays of plants from natural populations.