Molecular basis of developmental variation in Arabidopsis arenosa

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Proper regulation of development in plants, such as the timing of reproduction, branching and growth rate, is critical for survival in diverse habitats. Flowering at inappropriate times, or improperly tuning growth rate to local environment can spell disaster. Arabidopsis arenosa, a close relative of the laboratory model, A. thaliana, is found in moist and heavily shaded forest rock outcrop sites, but some populations have successfully colonized railway sites. Here, they face many environmental challenges such as higher temperatures, herbicides, high light and drought risk. Plants from forest outcrops are late-flowering perennials, while plants from railways are annual, consistently flower earlier and branch more extensively. This project will contribute to understanding how wild plants like A. arenosa evolve new developmental strategies that enable them to make such habitat transitions. This is useful information not only for our understanding plant diversity, but also for agriculture, as the crops we depend on face ever more volatile and challenging environmental conditions. This project will use a combination of genetic mapping, genomics and molecular biology to identify and characterize genes that control differences in flowering time, growth rate and plant architecture associated with colonization of challenging habitats. The project will provide training for a postdoctoral scientist, a PhD student, and several undergraduates. Students will be recruited from a diverse pool at Harvard and Boston-area community colleges. Training for undergraduates will include mentored laboratory research, ethical conduct of research, as well as presentation and writing skills. The data generated from this project will be made publicly available through publications and websites. All sequence data will be deposited in the sequence archives of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Core genetic resources generated in this project will be made available through the Arabidopsis Biological Resources Center.