DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Investigating recombination and the origin of genetic variation in apomictic ferns

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Asexual plant and animal lineages have long been considered evolutionary dead ends, incapable of generating significant genetic variability. Recent evidence, however, suggests that some asexual lineages may undergo subsexual processes that can lead to an increase in genetic variation, thereby improving evolutionary potential for adaptation in extreme environments. This dissertation research will examine whether recombination can be documented in an apomictic fern lineage. Apomictic ferns are capable of a unique type of sporogenesis (one not known to occur in flowering plants) where there is a possibility for homologous chromosomes to pair and recombine genetic information during meiosis. Using modern genomic approaches in combination with cytological studies, this study aims to identify whether such genetic variation exists in these ferns and the possible extent of this phenomenon in natural populations.The proposed research will enhance current understanding of apomixis in ferns, an early diverging lineage of vascular plants that shares certain asexual traits with both animals and angiosperms. An increased knowledge of the biology of apomixis across plants is relevant not only for evolutionary and ecological studies of genetic variability in ferns, but can have wide-ranging implications for agricultural and crop sciences.