Dissertation Research: Ecological Genetics of Life-history Evolution in Mimulus guttatus

生物学的一个中心目标是了解促成生命多样性的生态和遗传因素。对不同生态条件的适应是通过基因组和可见性状的变化来实现的。很少有研究分析了差异背后的基因组差异。本项目旨在回答有关两个截然不同的野猴花种群之间适应性差异的基本问题。一个种群由生活在极端高山条件下的小型开花一年生植物组成。其他种群包括居住在沿海温带环境的沙丘上的大花多年生植物。本研究将使用基因组定位方法来识别和表征普通园林环境中性状差异的遗传基础。此外，该实验将揭示特定基因型在不同自然环境下的适应性表现。通过在互惠移植实验中分析重组自交系（一年生和多年生之间的高级杂交品种），将评估两种自然环境中与特定基因组区域相关的适应度变化。这种局部适应的遗传解剖将有助于阐明哪些性状和染色体区域与野外表现有关。这些实验的结果将提供对基本进化问题的不同寻常的完整理解，例如遗传差异如何促进生物体占据不同生态环境的能力。

A central goal of biology is to understand ecological and genetic factors which have contributed to the diversity of life. Adaptation to different ecological conditions occurs through changes in the genome and in visible traits. Few studies have analyzed the genomic differences underlying divergence. This project aims to answer fundamental questions regarding the adaptive differences between two dramatically different wild populations of Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower). One population consists of tiny, small flowered annual plants living in extreme alpine conditions. The other population includes large-flowered perennials inhabiting sand dunes in a coastal temperate environment. This study will use genome mapping approaches to identify and characterize the genetic basis of trait differences in a common garden environment. In addition, this experiment will reveal how particular genotypes perform in different natural environments with respect to fitness. By analyzing recombinant inbred lines (advanced generation hybrids between annual and perennial) in a reciprocal transplant experiment, fitness variation associated with specific genomic regions in each of the two natural environments will be assessed. This genetic dissection of local adaptation will help clarify which traits and chromosome regions are associated with performance in the wild.Results of these experiments will provide an unusually complete understanding of basic evolutionary questions, such as how genetic differences contribute to an organisms' ability to occupy diverse ecological environments.