Modification of the ABC Program and the Evolution of Floral Novelty

生活的多样性--从苹果到斑马--美丽、迷人，激发了人们的想象力。不同的形式是如何产生的这个问题是所有生物学中最令人着迷和最重要的问题之一。开花植物提供了一个极好的机会来研究遗传基础进化的新颖性，特别是在花器官独特形式的背景下。大多数花都有一套标准的器官--萼片、花瓣、雄蕊和心皮--但有些花进化出了第五种器官类型。这个项目使用新的模型系统Aquilegia(Columine)来了解新的花器官识别和精加工的遗传基础。在骨灰柱中，标准的花器官可能会产生奇妙的新特征，例如花瓣花蜜刺的长度从几毫米到超过12厘米不等。该项目建立在以前研究的基础上，以了解i)基因复制如何有助于第五种不同形式的花器官-退化雄蕊的进化；ii)哪些其他基因变化有助于退化雄蕊的进化；iii)如何从激素和遗传的角度控制Aquilegia花瓣花蜜刺突的发育。培训我们的下一代科学家需要让学生对科学过程感到兴奋，并熟悉真正的日常科学实践。最近测序的Aquilegia基因组的基因注释将被用作深红夏季学院课程/实验模块的基础，该学院是哈佛大学的一个暑期项目，面向来自经济困难背景、在学业上有天赋的高中生。本课程将让学生接触到广泛的主题，包括基因和基因组组织、基因进化和撰写可发表的科学文章的过程。

The variety of life-from apples to zebras-is beautiful, engaging and excites the imagination. The question of how different forms arise is one of the most fascinating and important in all of biology. The flowering plants offer a wonderful opportunity to investigate the genetic basis evolutionary novelty, especially in the context of unique forms of floral organs. Most flowers display a standard set of organs-sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels-but some have evolved fifth organ types. This project uses the new model system Aquilegia (columbine) to understand the genetic basis of novel floral organ identity and elaboration. In columbines, standard floral organs may develop fantastic new features, such as petal nectar spurs that vary in length from a few mm to over 12 cm. The project builds on previous studies to understand i) how gene duplication has contributed to the evolution of a fifth, distinct form of floral organ, the staminodium; ii) what other genetic changes contributed to the evolution of the staminodium; and iii) how development of Aquilegia's petal nectar spurs is controlled from a hormonal and genetic standpoint.Training our next generation of scientists requires getting students excited about the scientific process and familiarizing them with the real day to day practice of science. Genetic annotation of the recently sequenced Aquilegia genome will be used as the basis for a lecture/lab module in the Crimson Summer Academy, a summer program at Harvard for academically talented high school students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds. This program will engage students with a wide range of topics including gene and genome organization, gene evolution and the process of writing a publishable scientific article.