DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolution of floral symmetry in the petaloid monocot order Zingiberales

在切尔西·D·斯佩克特博士的指导下，加州大学伯克利分校获奖，以研究几个影响开花和花对称的基因在包括生姜、香蕉和极地鸟植物在内的植物家族中的作用。这笔拨款将改善马德兰·巴特利特的博士论文研究。开花植物有惊人的多样性，花对称性的变化被认为是这种多样性进化的驱动力之一。这项研究的目的是研究两个候选基因家族，即类CyC基因和B和C类MADS盒基因，在单子叶姜目约2,000种植物花对称性的启动和形成中所起的作用。姜目植物的花对称性发生了多重变化，是研究这一重要生态性状进化的理想顺序。假设基因序列、数量和表达会随着对称性的变化而发生变化。现代系统发育学方法将被用来研究这些基因家族的进化史。它们在不同对称性的花发育中的表达模式将利用原位杂交和RT-PCR来评估。了解开花植物多样性进化的遗传学对于决定如何保护和保持现在和未来的这种多样性至关重要。这项研究是第一次将我们的花发育知识扩展到花瓣状单子叶植物，也是第一次将这一研究扩展到热带单子叶植物。通过这项研究项目的继续，至少两名额外的本科生将接受分子实验室工作和科学过程方面的培训。这项研究还将通过出版物、在科学会议上的陈述以及一个将分子遗传学研究扩展到非模型系统的程序和协议的网站来传播知识。

An award has been made to the University of California at Berkeley under the direction of Dr. Chelsea D. Specht to study the role several genes affecting flowering and floral symmetry in a family of plants that includes gingers, bananas, and the bird of paradise plant. The grant will improve the doctoral dissertation research of Madelaine Bartlett. Flowering plants are astoundingly diverse, and changes in floral symmetry are thought to have been one driving force in the evolution of this diversity. The goal of the proposed research is to investigate the role of two candidate gene families, the CYC-like genes and the B and C class MADS box genes, in the initiation and elaboration of floral symmetry in the monocotyledonous order Zingiberales, which contains about 2,000 species. Multiple changes in floral symmetry have occurred in the Zingiberales, making it an ideal order in which to study the evolution of this important ecological trait. It is hypothesized that there will be shifts in gene sequence, number and expression accompanying shifts in symmetry across the order. Modern phylogenetic methods will be used to investigate the evolutionary history of these gene families. Their expression patterns in developing flowers with differing symmetries will be assessed using in situ hybridization and RT-PCR.Understanding the genetics of how flowering plant diversity evolved is critically important in deciding how to protect and maintain such diversity now and in the future. This study is one of the first to expand our knowledge of floral development to the petaloid monocots, and the first to expand this research to tropical monocots. Through the continuation of this research project, at least two additional undergraduate students will be trained in molecular lab work and the scientific process. This research will also result in the dissemination of knowledge through publications, presentations at scientific meetings, and a website with procedures and protocols for extending molecular genetic research to non-model systems.