Mutation, Mating Systems, and the Rate of Adaptation

突变在种群内遗传变异的产生、对新环境的适应以及有性繁殖和交配系统的进化中发挥着重要作用。利用基于理论模型的预测，该项目调查了在研究得很好的线虫模型系统--秀丽线虫中，突变输入水平的变化如何影响不同形式的有性繁殖之间的转变和对新温度的适应。这些预测将通过对突变率和个体生育雄性后代倾向的直接遗传操作进行实验验证。这项研究将进一步加深我们对导致植物和动物交配系统巨大变异的机制的理解，并阐明自然种群中突变的创造性和约束性作用之间的对比。这里研究的过程是描述农业和自然系统，特别是濒危动植物物种的变异和变化的基础。线虫本身是地球上数量最多、研究最少的生物群之一，是人类、动物和植物的重要病原体。

Mutation plays a fundamental role in the generation of genetic variation within populations, adaptation to novel environments, and the evolution of sexual reproduction and mating systems. Using predictions based on theoretical models, this project investigates how changing levels of mutational input affect the transition between different forms of sexual reproduction and adaptation to novel temperatures in the well-studied nematode model system, Caenorhabditis elegans. These predictions will be tested experimentally using direct genetic manipulation of mutation rate and an individual's propensity to produce male offspring.This research should further our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for generating the tremendous variation in mating systems in both plants and animals, as well as illuminating the contrast between the creative and constraining roles of mutation in natural populations. The processes studied here are fundamental to describing variation and change in agricultural and natural systems, especially in endangered species of plants and animals. Nematodes themselves are one of the most numerous, yet understudied, groups of organisms on earth and are important human, animal, and plant pathogens.