Dissertation Research: A Genetic Analysis of Seed Coat Polymorphism Within Arabidopsis thaliana

理解自然发生的生物变异的遗传和发育基础就是理解进化本身的原材料。将在模式植物拟南芥中从遗传和发育方面剖析种皮形态的自然变异。 一个完整的描述参考菌株（这是最常用的许多可用的菌株）的种皮发展的拟南芥将完成，并将作为标准的发展和潜在的遗传学的化学诱导和自然发生的（现场收集）突变体将进行比较。 人工和自然突变体都将进行发育特征和遗传图谱。 这些数据，除了传统的互补试验（杂交个体和分析它们的后代），将被用来确定在这一发育途径中影响变异的基因座的数量以及自然种皮变异的频率和起源。种皮作为植物胚和它的发育之间的界面，它的作用是多种多样的。 这种相对简单、高度分化的结构提供了一个独特的机会来研究进化上重要的问题，并有可能鉴定出负责棉花纤维和粘液等作物的重要商业器官发育的基因（例如，Metamucil）。

To understand the genetic and developmental bases of naturally-occurringorganismal variation is to understand the raw material of evolution itself.Natural variation in seed coat morphology will be genetically anddevelopmentally dissected in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Athorough description of seed coat development for a reference strain (thisis the most commonly-used among many available strains) of Arabidopsis willbe completed and will serve as the standard to which the development andunderlying genetics of both chemically-induced and naturally-occurring(field-collected) mutants will be compared. Both artificial and naturalmutants will be developmentally characterized and genetically mapped. Thesedata, in addition to traditional complementation tests (crossing individualsand analyzing their progeny), will be utilized to identify the number ofloci affecting variation in this developmental pathway and the frequency andorigins of natural seed coat variation.The seed coat serves as the interface between the plant embryo and itsenvironment and its roles are many and varied. This relatively simple, yethighly differentiated structure provides a unique opportunity to investigateevolutionarily important issues and the potential to identify genesresponsible for the development of a commercially important organresponsible for such crops as cotton fiber and mucilage, (e.g., Metamucil).