Phylogeny, Development, and Taxonomy of Setaria and its Relatives

谷类作物谷子和珍珠谷子，以及有毒的杂草，如绿谷子和沙棘，都是禾草家族中关系密切的成员，是310个物种的一部分，这些物种都是由一个祖先进化而来的。这些植物的特点都是奇怪的“刚毛”散布在它们的花之间；鬃毛是高度修饰的树枝。该项目将利用来自细胞核和叶绿体的DNA序列，确定尽可能多的“刚毛群”物种之间的精确关系。同时，将研究这些种子头（花序）和花的发育，以准确描述物种的差异。与此同时，获得资助的研究生将确定谷子群中有多少种谷子，这些谷子长什么样子，并将为它们编写识别指南。因为已经有了关于北美和南美物种的信息，这个项目的这一部分将集中在亚洲和非洲。在这个项目中获得的信息将直接与其他已经获得的关于谷子和禾本科的信息联系起来。控制谷子形态变异的基因正在积极研究中，其中一些基因与玉米中的已知基因相似。很快就有可能根据相关基因来描述进化枝的形态变异。这将有助于回答物种和更大群体是如何形成的问题。研究结果将提供系统发育、发育形态学和分类学之间的直接和明确的联系，并将为研究发育进化提供一个框架

The cereal crops foxtail millet and pearl millet, and noxious weedssuch as green foxtail and sandbur are all closely related members of thegrass family, and are part of a group of 310 species descended from asingle ancestor. These plants are all characterized by odd "bristles"interspersed among their flowers; the bristles are highly modifiedbranches. This project will determine the precise relationships among asmany species as possible in the "bristle group" using DNA sequences fromthe nucleus and the chloroplast. At the same time, the development of theseed head (inflorescence) and flowers will be studied for a precisedescription of how the species differ. Along with this, the graduatestudent supported on the grant will determine how many species are in thefoxtail millet group, what the species look like, and will writeidentification guides to them. Because there is already information onthe species in North and South America, this part of the project will focuson Asia and Africa. The information gained in this project will connect directly withother information already available on foxtail millet and the panicoidgrasses. The genes that control morphological variation in foxtail milletare under active investigation, and some of these are similar to knowngenes in maize. It should soon be possible to describe morphologicalvariation in the clade in terms of the genes involved. This will helpanswer questions about how species and larger groups are formed. Theresulting study will provide a direct and explicit link between phylogeny,developmental morphology, and taxonomy, and will provide a framework forwork on the evolution of development