Can Non-Random Mating Result in Evolutionary Change: A Selection Experiment Using Wild Radish as a Model System, Phase II

9807337马歇尔和埃文斯 了解植物繁殖对基础科学和应用科学都很重要。 如果不了解植物繁殖成功的变异原因，我们就无法理解植物生态学和进化。从应用的角度来看，植物繁殖是重要的，因为我们的许多农产品是繁殖的直接产品，所以了解繁殖成功是必要的植物育种计划。 然而，植物繁殖的知识是有限的，因为我们的大部分信息是关于植物作为种子亲本的成功，即使植物作为种子和花粉亲本繁殖。如果选择发生在植物通过花粉捐赠实现繁殖成功的能力上，那么我们可能误解或未充分利用了植物的一些特征。 这项研究的重点是测试选择是否发生在作为花粉亲本的植物上。研究人员正在使用人工选择实验来解决花粉捐赠能力是否基于遗传，并测试这种能力的选择是否会改变植物的其他特征。迄今为止的研究结果表明，交配性状是可遗传的，交配能力的选择会影响植物的其他特征。 目前的工作将复制实验，并更多地了解植物如何对选择做出反应。 研究人员将使用野萝卜作为模式生物，因为它非常容易使用。此外，它与作为作物种植的其他物种密切相关。这项研究将直接解决植物进化生态学的一个基本问题，也可能有相当直接的农业影响。由于这项研究将涉及从果实的不同区域选择种子，因此有可能辨别这种形式的选择是否可用于植物育种。一项关于苜蓿的研究已经表明，从不同水果区域选择的种子具有不同的生长和繁殖特性。 目前的工作可以用来解决最有活力的种子是否通常来自不相关植物的果实的特定区域，从而这是否可能是植物育种计划中普遍有用的选择方法。

9807337 Marshall and Evans Understanding plant reproduction is important for both basic and applied science. We cannot understand plant ecology and evolution without knowledge of the causes of variation in plant reproductive success. From an applied perspective, plant reproduction is important because many of our agricultural products are the direct products of reproduction, so understanding of reproductive success is necessary to plant breeding programs. However, knowledge of plant reproduction has been limited because most of our information is about success of plants as seed parents, even though plants reproduce both as seed and pollen parents. If selection is occurring on the ability of plants to achieve reproductive success through pollen donation, then we may have misinterpreted or under-utilized some of the features of plants. This study focuses on testing whether selection is occurring on plants that act as pollen parents. The investigators are using an artificial selection experiment to address whether pollen-donating ability is genetically based and to test whether selection on this ability alters other characteristics of plants. Results to date show that mating characters are heritable and that selection on mating ability affects other features of the plant. The current work will replicate the experiment and learn more about how plants respond to selection. The investigators will use wild radish as a model organism because it is very easy to work with. In addition, it is closely related to other species that are grown as crops. The study will directly address a fundamental issue in plant evolutionary ecology and may have rather direct agricultural implications as well. Because the research will involve selection of seeds from different regions of the fruits, it may be possible to discern whether this form of selection could be useful in plant breeding. A study of alfalfa has already shown that seeds selected from different regions of fruits have different growth and reproductive characteristics. The current work can be used to address whether the most vigorous seeds typically come from particular regions of fruits in an unrelated plant and thus whether this might be a generally useful method of selection in plant breeding programs.