Measuring Mutation Parameters in the Wild

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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.