Ecology, Evolution, and Genetic Architecture of Reproductive Isolation in Iris Nelsonii: A Homoploid Hybrid.

对于进化生物学家来说，了解物种多样性的起源和维持是非常重要的。物种形成被认为主要发生在种群彼此分化的时候。然而，许多物种是通过一种不同的、更鲜为人知的途径产生的，即同倍体杂交物种形成的过程，在这个过程中，杂交种形成时没有基因组复制，并从双亲那里繁殖地分离出来。使用这一过程中产生的物种可以很容易地解决以下问题：在维持自然界物种方面，哪些生殖障碍是最重要的？生殖隔离的遗传结构是什么？这个项目利用分子和现场技术，使用杂交物种Iris nelsoni，在研究得很好的路易斯安那州蝴蝶花复合体中检查同倍体杂交物种的形成。这个项目将为高中生、本科生、硕士和博士生回答一些最基本的生物学问题提供重要的准备。它将为三名学生在德克萨斯州立大学的整个培训过程提供支持，同时还将提供资金，用于前往科学会议介绍他们的工作。该项目将通过立即为女学生提供所需的资金来促进科学的多样性。此外，PI将通过各种外展计划招收主要来自西班牙裔背景的学生。

Understanding the origin and maintenance of species diversity is of primary importance to evolutionary biologists. Speciation is thought to primarily occur as populations diverge from each other. However, many species have arisen through a different and more poorly understood route, the process of homoploid hybrid speciation, in which hybrids form without genome duplication and are isolated reproductively from their parents. Questions such as the following can be addressed easily using species that have arisen by this process: What reproductive barriers are most important in maintaining species in nature? What is the genetic architecture of reproductive isolation? This project utilizes molecular and field techniques to examine homoploid hybrid speciation in the well-studied Louisiana Iris complex, using the hybrid species Iris nelsonii.This project will provide high school students, undergraduates, MSc, and PhD students with important preparation for answering some of the most fundamental questions in biology. It will support three students throughout their training at Texas State University, while also providing funds for traveling to scientific meetings to present their work. The project will promote diversity in science by immediately providing needed funds for female students. Further, the PI will recruit students from a primarily Hispanic background through a variety of outreach programs.