Planning Grant: Life History Strategies of the South African Holoparasitic Genus Hyobanche (Orobanchaceae)

Wolfe 0440673该奖项资助了一项研究规划访问，在此期间，Wolfe将收集用于Hyobanche（列当科）生态研究的初步数据，Hyobanche是一种寄生属，原产于南部非洲，15种中的大多数仅限于南非的生物多样性热点地区。 最近对几种Hyobanche的研究揭示了与光合作用丧失相关的基因组进化的有趣模式。 然而，从未对该属的基础生物学进行过研究。 这次规划访问将使沃尔夫和她的南非合作者，布拉德里普利和彼得克雷格从罗兹大学在格拉姆斯敦，南非，以确定各种方法的可行性，生态研究沙丘系统沿着南非海岸。该项目将侧重于授粉和种子生态学以及宿主和寄生虫的水关系的生态生理学，并将制定具体的方案，用于即将提交的研究计划。PI打算利用规划访问帮助建立一个长期的研究计划，建立该属的基础生物学和生态学概况，并促进了与美国和南非研究人员的国际合作。 来自南非的研究人员和学生将在南非沿着海岸线的几个地点参与长期生态研究。 俄亥俄州州立大学的学生将有机会在南非进行实地考察，罗兹大学的学生将有机会在俄亥俄州州立大学学习分子技术，这将促进两国学生的交流。

Wolfe 0440673This award funds a research planning visit during which Wolfe will collect preliminary data for ecological studies of Hyobanche (Orobanchaceae), a parasitic genus native to southern Africa with most of the 15 species restricted to the biodiversity hotspot regions of South Africa. Recent studies on several species of Hyobanche have revealed interesting patterns of genome evolution associated with the loss of photosynthesis. However, no studies of the basic biology of this genus have ever been conducted. This planning visit will allow Wolfe and her South African collaborators, Brad Ripley and Peter Craig from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, to determine the feasibility of various methodologies for ecological studies in sand dune systems along the coast of South Africa. The project will focus on pollination and seed ecology and the ecophysiology of water relations of host and parasite and will develop specific protocols for use in a research proposal planned for upcoming submission.The PI intends to use the planning visit to help build a long-term research program that establishes a profile of the basic biology and ecology of this genus, and facilitates an international collaboration with researchers from the U.S. and South Africa. Researchers and students from South Africa would be involved in long-term ecological studies at several sites along the coastline of South Africa. An exchange of students from both countries would be facilitated with students from Ohio State University given the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in South Africa, and students from Rhodes University given the opportunity to learn molecular techniques at Ohio State University.