Collaborative Research: Genetic Analyses of Chemical Variation and Resistance to a Diverse Phytophage Community on Willow Hybrids

杂交在植物进化中起着重要的作用。最近的研究表明，杂交植物对食草动物的抗性可能不同于纯亲本植物对食草动物的抗性。与亲本物种相比，杂交品种可能具有更多、更少、相同或中等程度的抗性。确定其中一种模式是否普遍存在，有助于理解植物-食草动物相互作用的重要生态和进化方面，以及杂交种在考虑生物多样性问题中的作用。这个项目的重点是柳树物种和它们的杂交品种，共同出现在同一栖息地。两种亲本柳树的叶片化学系统不同，可以在杂交和亲本中进行研究。PI开发了分子遗传标记来表征自然发生和杂交的杂种和亲本物种。该项目将分析大田植物、普通园林克隆植物和幼苗植物的杂交、化学变异和抗草食性之间的关系。他将测试化学表达的差异是否与杂交品种的抗草食性有关，并将使用分子标记来确定两个柳树物种杂交的几个群落的频率。

Hybridization has been of major importance for plant evolution. Recent research has shown that hybrid plant resistance to herbivores may differ from resistance of pure parental plants to herbivores. Hybrids could be more, less, equally, or intermediately resistant compared to parental species. Determining if one of these patterns is prevalent could contribute to understanding important ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant-herbivore interactions, as well as the role of hybrids in considering issues of biological diversity. This project focuses on willow species and their hybrids that co-occur in the same habitat. The two parent willow species have different chemical systems in their leaves that can be studied in the hybrids and parents. The PI has developed molecular genetic markers to characterize naturally occurring and crossed hybrids and parental species. The PI will analyze the relationships between hybridization, chemical variation and herbivore resistance for field plants, and cloned and seedling plants in a common garden. He will test if differences in chemical expression are correlated with herbivore resistance of hybrids, and will use molecular markers to determine the frequency of hybridization in several communities that have both willow species.