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

了解自然发生的有机体变异的遗传和发育基础，就是了解进化本身的原料。拟南芥种皮形态的自然变异将在模式植物拟南芥中进行遗传和发育解剖。将完成对拟南芥参考菌株（这是许多可用菌株中最常用的）种皮发育的全面描述，并将作为比较化学诱导和自然发生（田间收集）突变体的发育和潜在遗传学的标准。人工和自然突变体都将被描述为发育特征和基因图谱。除了传统的互补测试（杂交个体并分析其后代）之外，这些数据将用于确定影响这一发育途径变异的位点数量以及自然种皮变异的频率和起源。种皮是植物胚与外界环境之间的界面，其作用是多种多样的。这种相对简单，但分化明显的结构提供了一个独特的机会来研究进化上的重要问题，并有可能识别出负责棉花纤维和粘液等作物（如粘稠剂）的商业重要器官发育的基因。

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).