Measuring Mutation Parameters in the Wild

在野外测量突变参数

• 批准号: 0315972
• 负责人: Charles Fenster
• 金额: $ 32万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-15 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0315972&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Measuring; Mutation; Parameters; Wild

Spontaneous mutations are the raw material of evolutionary change and the ultimate source of all genetic defects, such as human genetic diseases. Because mutation is infrequent, measuring mutational effects has been restricted to model organisms raised and assayed in large numbers in laboratory conditions. However, understanding how mutations interface with natural selection requires quantifying mutation rates and their effects in the wild. Here we propose to measure the effects of mutation in the wild using the model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana. Because plants are large and do not move, they offer an excellent opportunity for documenting mutational parameters in natural environments. We propose to plant lines that have accumulated mutations into field conditions. We will measure survival and lifetime reproductive production, thus estimating the genomic mutation rate affecting fitness and the distribution of fitness effects of mutation.Our study has broader impacts in that mutations are important to our understanding of the origins of heritable diseases and we need a greater understanding of the environmental determination of mutational effects. Furthermore, conservation genetic models of the consequences of small population size often incorporate mutational parameters, which our study will provide. This study will lead to a deeper understanding of the role of mutation in the evolutionary process.

自发突变是进化变化的原材料，也是所有遗传缺陷（如人类遗传疾病）的最终来源。由于突变是罕见的，测量突变的影响已被限制到模式生物提出和大量在实验室条件下进行测定。然而，了解突变如何与自然选择相互作用需要量化突变率及其在野外的影响。在这里，我们建议在野生环境中使用模式生物，拟南芥突变的影响进行测量。 因为植物很大，而且不会移动，它们为记录自然环境中的突变参数提供了极好的机会。 我们建议种植在田间条件下积累了突变的品系。 我们将测量生存和终生生殖生产，从而估计影响适应度的基因组突变率和突变的适应度效应的分布。我们的研究具有更广泛的影响，因为突变对我们理解遗传性疾病的起源很重要，我们需要更好地理解突变效应的环境决定。此外，保守的遗传模型的后果，小人口规模往往纳入突变参数，我们的研究将提供。 这项研究将导致更深入地了解突变在进化过程中的作用。