Collaborative research: Branching in chloridoid grasses: phylogeny and inflorescence diversification

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法》(公法111-5)资助的。拟氯草是一个大型的、具有经济和生态意义的群体，约有150属1500种，已根据花序高度可变的特征(花如何排列)进行分类。尽管它们很重要，但对物种之间的关系或花序发育的调控知之甚少，因此这些问题将通过对所有属和三分之一的物种的研究来解决。DNA序列将用于重建进化关系并创建新的分类，花序将从早期发育到成熟进行研究，以表征进化背景下的差异。与其他物种花序发育有关的基因将被研究它们在拟态植物中的作用。拟态植物具有重要的经济意义，因为有几种植物被种植为粮食作物或人类的草坪草，许多物种提供牲畜饲料。了解群体的进化和花序发育的调节对于作物或草坪的改良具有重要的意义，因为其他人正在寻找理想的性状来源或提高谷物产量。除了主要研究人员，该项目还涉及一所小型学院的本科生，以及研究生和一名博士后学者。研究结果将通过印刷品和在线渠道广泛传播。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The chloridoid grasses are a large, economically and ecologically important group of approximately 1500 species in 150 genera that have been classified using the highly variable features of the inflorescence (how flowers are arranged). Despite their importance, relatively little is known about the relationships among the species or the regulation of inflorescence development, so these issues will be addressed through studies of all genera and one-third of the species. DNA sequences will be used to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships and create a new classification, and inflorescences will be studied from early in development to maturity to characterize the differences in an evolutionary context. Genes involved in inflorescence development of other species will be examined for their role in chloridoids.Chloridoid grasses are economically important because several species are grown as food crops or turf grasses for humans, and many provide livestock forage. Understanding the evolution of the group and the regulation of inflorescence development can have important implications for crop or turf improvement as others seek sources of desirable traits or increased grain yields. In addition to the principal investigators, the project involves undergraduate students at a small college, as well as graduate students and a postdoctoral scholar. The research findings will be broadly disseminated through print and online outlets.