Dissertation Research: Phenological interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana--natural variation and natural selection

植物适应不断变化的气候主要是通过改变它们的季节性生命阶段的转变，如发芽和开花的时间。因此，关于植物对环境变化的响应的一个主要问题是这些响应的遗传基础和适应性意义。对于一年生植物来说，发芽和开花的时间尤为重要，因为它们在环境和遗传上相互影响。然而，关于植物对季节环境，尤其是发芽时间的自然变化的基因，我们所知甚少。本研究结合田间自然选择测量和分子遗传学分析来检验一年生植物Arabadopsis thaliana对季节条件的生命周期自然变异的遗传基础假设，并研究不同基因如何相互作用以确定其整体适合度。该项目研究了随着扩散和气候变化而变化的季节性因素的变化的基本遗传机制。因此，这项工作与预测在广泛地理范围内分散的引种杂草物种的动态以及预测它们对环境变化的反应有关。该项目还促进了与德国和西班牙科学家正在进行的国际合作。

Plants adapt to changing climate primarily by altering their seasonal life phase transitions, such as the timing of germination and the timing of flowering. Thus, a major question regarding plant responses to environmental change concerns the genetic basis and adaptive significance of these responses. For annual plant species, the timing of germination and flowering are especially important because they influence each other both environmentally and genetically. Very little is known, however, about the genes that underlie natural variation in their response to seasonal environments, especially for germination timing. This research combines the measurement of natural selection in the field and molecular-genetic analysis to test hypotheses about the genetic basis of natural variation in life cycle responses to seasonal conditions in the annual plant Arabadopsis thaliana, and to examine how different genes interact to determine its overall fitness. The project investigates fundamental genetic mechanisms of variation as a function of seasonal factors that vary with dispersal and climate change. The work therefore has relevance to predicting dynamics of introduced weedy species dispersed over a broad geographic range, as well as predicting their responses to environmental change. The project also contributes to an ongoing international collaboration with scientists in Germany and Spain.