Molecular Evolution of Floral Homeotic Genes in the Hawaiian Silversword Alliance (Asteraceae)

9981072Purugganan调控基因在发育模式和适应的进化中起着核心作用。调控基因的分子进化必须起源于发生在不同物种中的分子变异。要了解这些发育控制基因的进化动态，需要在种群水平上研究它们的进化，这种变异在哪里起源，遗传力在哪里发挥作用，以决定交替等位基因的命运。这个项目将研究夏威夷银剑联盟中四个花调节基因座(ASAPETALA1-A和-B，以及ASAPETALA3/TM6-A和-B)的分子群体遗传学，这是植物适应性辐射的一个典型例子。我们的研究将探索调控基因进化的动力学，在快速进化的种群中，这两个最近出现分歧的物种。我们建议对影响控制植物形态的基因多样化的历史力量以及在物种形成界面驱动调控基因进化的选择性力量的假设进行测试。这项工作的结果将使我们能够更好地了解推动基因和基因组进化的力量，这反过来将有助于为作物育种、植物保护和基因组分析等不同领域的努力提供信息。

9981072Purugganan Regulatory genes play central roles in the evolution of developmental patterns and adaptation. The molecular evolution of regulatory genes must have its origins in molecular variation that occurs within distinct species. Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of these developmental control genes requires investigating their evolution at the level of populations, where this variation has its origins and where genetic forces play themselves out to determine the fates of alternate alleles. This project will study the molecular population genetics of four floral regulatory loci (ASAPETALA1-A and -B, and ASAPETALA3/TM6-A and -B) within the Hawaiian silversword alliance, a premier example of a plant adaptive radiation. Our study will explore the dynamics of regulatory gene evolution in Dubautia arborea and D. ciliolata, two recently-diverged species within the rapidly-evolving group. We propose to test hypotheses on the historical forces that shape the diversification of genes which control plant morphology, and on the selective forces that drive regulatory gene evolution at the interface of speciation. The results of this work will allow us to better understand the forces that drive gene and genome evolution, which in turn will help inform efforts in fields as disparate as crop breeding, plant conservation and genomic analysis.