Genetics and Evolution of Reproductive Character Displacement in Phlox drumondii

本项目将研究在有和没有密切相关的虎皮夹竹桃的地区，鼓形夹竹桃种群之间颜色差异的进化过程。这种分化代表了植物生殖特征置换的最佳案例之一，在这种情况下，两个具有重叠范围的相似物种进化为最小化杂交数量，这是由于配子浪费的选择。结合个体适应度的测量和对导致花朵颜色变化的基因分子变异模式的分析，计划中的实验将测试这种差异是否满足过去二十年来发展起来的一套特征位移标准，从而确定这种差异是否真的构成了特征位移。他们还将测试对观察到的差异的其他解释，包括对与虎尾猿相互作用无关的环境因素的局部适应。这里概述的研究计划的一个组成部分是各种教育水平的学生的教学和培训。明确要求经费支持培养1名博士后和1名研究生。与过去一样，本科生将积极参与这项研究，无论是在学年期间作为独立研究学生，还是作为夏季研究助理。在高中和本科阶段，在科学领域代表性不足的妇女和少数民族将成为研究培训的目标。

This project will examine the evolutionary processes responsible for flower-color divergence between populations of Phlox drummondii in areas with and without the closely related P. cuspidata. This divergence represents one of the best purported cases in plants of reproductive character displacement, in which two similar species with overlapping ranges evolve to minimize the amount of hybridization due to selection against gamete wastage. Combining both measures of individual fitness and analysis of patterns of molecular variation in the genes responsible for the flower-color change, the planned experiments will test whether this divergence satisfies a set of criteria for character displacement that have been developed over the past two decades, and thus determine whether this divergence truly constitutes character displacement. They will also test alternative explanations for the observed divergence, including local adaptation to an environmental factor unrelated to interaction with P. cuspidata. An integral component of the research program outlined here is the teaching and training of students at a variety of educational levels. Funds are explicitly requested to support the training of one postdoctoral fellow and one graduate student. As in the past, undergraduates will be actively engaged in this research, both as Independent Study students during the academic year, and as summer research assistants. At the high school and undergraduate levels, women and minorities under-represented in science will be targeted for training in research.