Modification of the ABC Program and the Evolution of Floral Novelty

从苹果到斑马，生命的多样性是美丽的，迷人的，激发想象力。不同形式如何产生的问题是整个生物学中最引人入胜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，特别是在独特的花器官形式的背景下。大多数花都有一套标准的器官——萼片、花瓣、雄蕊和心皮——但有些已经进化出了第五种器官类型。本项目利用耧斗菜属（Aquilegia，耧斗菜属）的新模式系统，了解新的花器官身份和发育的遗传基础。在耧斗菜中，标准的花器官可能会发育出奇妙的新特征，比如花瓣花蜜刺，长度从几毫米到12厘米以上不等。该项目建立在先前的研究基础上，旨在了解1)基因复制如何促进第五种独特的花器官——雄蕊的进化；Ii)其他哪些基因变化对雄蕊的进化有贡献；以及iii)如何从激素和遗传的角度控制Aquilegia花瓣花蜜刺的发育。培养我们的下一代科学家需要让学生对科学过程感到兴奋，并让他们熟悉科学的日常实践。最近测序的Aquilegia基因组的基因注释将被用作Crimson Summer Academy的讲座/实验室模块的基础。Crimson Summer Academy是哈佛大学为经济困难背景的有学术天赋的高中生开设的一个暑期项目。该课程将让学生参与广泛的主题，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.