Analysis of Speciation Mechanisms in an Adaptive Radiation

适应性辐射长期以来被认为是自然选择和物种形成的主要例子。要了解产生这些辐射的过程，需要对物种之间的关系进行系统发育重建。然而，适应性辐射通常发生得非常快，因此传统的系统发育重建方法往往失败。拟议的研究将调查多个基因的3'-未翻译区域的DNA测序是否将为在耧菜属Aquilegia中特别快速适应辐射的系统发育重建提供必要的数据。在对表达基因的3′端测序后，设计特异性PCR引物来扩增编码和非编码基因区域。然后将对这些基因区域进行多个物种的测序，并进行系统发育重建。了解产生生物多样性的过程对于了解如何维持生物多样性至关重要。适应性辐射代表了显著多样化的实例，但由于没有关于其物种进化关系的信息，在了解其起源方面几乎没有进展。本研究将探索一种适用于广泛分类群关系重建的技术。

Adaptive radiations have long been recognized as prime examples of natural selection and speciation. To understand the processes that bring about these radiations requires a phylogenetic reconstruction of the relationships among the species. However, adaptive radiations usually occur extremely rapidly and therefore traditional methods of phylogenetic reconstruction often fail. The proposed research will investigate whether DNA sequencing of the 3'-untranslated region of multiple genes will provide the data necessary for the phylogenetic reconstruction of a particularly rapid adaptive radiation, that in the columbine genus Aquilegia. After sequencing the 3' ends of expressed genes, specific PCR primers will be designed to amplify both coding and non-coding gene regions. These gene regions will then be sequenced for multiple species of Aquilegia and a phylogenetic reconstruction will be made. Understanding the processes that generate bio-diversity is essential to understanding how bio-diversity can be maintained. Adaptive radiations represent instances of remarkable diversification yet without information on the evolutionary relationships of their species, little progress can be made on understanding their origin. The proposed research will investigate a technique that would be applicable to reconstructing relationships for a wide range of taxa.