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

[807337] Marshall and Evans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变异的原因，我们就无法理解植物生态学和进化。从应用的角度来看，植物繁殖很重要，因为我们的许多农产品都是繁殖的直接产物，因此了解繁殖成功对植物育种计划是必要的。然而，关于植物繁殖的知识有限，因为我们的大多数信息都是关于植物作为种子亲本的成功，尽管植物既作为种子亲本也作为花粉亲本繁殖。如果选择发生在植物通过花粉捐赠获得繁殖成功的能力上，那么我们可能误解或未充分利用植物的某些特征。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。研究人员正在使用一种人工选择实验来确定提供花粉的能力是否基于基因，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，植物的交配性状是可遗传的，对交配能力的选择影响了植物的其他性状。目前的工作将重复这个实验，并更多地了解植物如何对选择做出反应。研究人员将使用野生萝卜作为模式生物，因为它非常容易处理。此外，它与其他作为作物种植的物种密切相关。这项研究将直接解决植物进化生态学中的一个基本问题，也可能具有相当直接的农业意义。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选择形式是否对植物育种有用。一项对紫花苜蓿的研究已经表明，从果实的不同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具活力的种子是否通常来自不相关植物果实的特定区域，从而是否可能在植物育种计划中成为一种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.