DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Shedding Light on the Complex Relationship Between Circadian Clock Variation and the Trade-off Between Flowering Time and Flower Size

论文研究：揭示昼夜节律时钟变化与开花时间和花朵大小之间的权衡之间的复杂关系

• 批准号: 1501764
• 负责人: John Willis
• 金额: $ 2.06万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2017-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1501764&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Shedding; Light; Complex

A key question in evolutionary biology is how variation is maintained within populations. One possible mechanism is trade-offs between traits. This research will demonstrate whether such trade-offs occur in natural populations of the monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus, and if developmental patterns influence such trade-offs. For many plants there is a trade-off between flowering time and number or quality of seeds. For example, plants that flower early typically have smaller flowers that are less attractive to pollinators and produce smaller seeds. However, a single population could maintain genetic variation for both early flowering and large flowers because either strategy might be successful. The project also will provide hands-on experience to undergraduates and outreach to middle and high school students.Mimulus guttatus is a short-lived annual. In both the greenhouse and field there exists a centrally important trade-off between flowering time and flower size. Circadian period length can serve as a highly informative intermediate trait for identifying the genetic underpinnings of flowering time variation. The circadian clock gene network is well characterized, is known to affect flowering time, and varies among populations. The project will identify and characterize loci associated with changes in period length, and determine relationships between period length, differential gene expression, and different flowering parameters. The first aim will be accomplished by determining period length of all members of a pre-existing set of 200 fully sequenced inbred lines generated from a single population. By conducting genome-wide association mapping the researchers will identify loci associated with variation in period length, flowering time, and flower size. The second aim will be accomplished using an RNA sequencing based approach to characterize the contribution of alternate alleles at previously identified loci to differential gene expression.

进化生物学的一个关键问题是如何在人群中维持变异。一种可能的机制是特征之间的权衡。这项研究将表明，这种权衡是否发生在猴子花，毛ulus guttatus的自然种群中，以及发展模式是否会影响这种权衡。对于许多植物，开花时间与种子数量或质量之间都有权衡。例如，早期开花的植物通常具有较小的花朵，这些花对传粉媒介的吸引力较小并产生较小的种子。但是，一个人群可以维持早期开花和大花的遗传变异，因为这两种策略都可能成功。 该项目还将为中学和高中生提供实践经验。Mimulusguttatus是一年一度的年度。在温室和田野中，在开花时间和花朵尺寸之间都存在着集中重要的权衡。昼夜节律长度可以作为识别开花时间变化的遗传基础的高度信息中的中间性状。昼夜节律基因网络的特征很好，已知会影响开花时间，并且人群之间有所不同。该项目将识别和表征与周期长度变化相关的基因座，并确定周期长度，差异基因表达和不同开花参数之间的关系。第一个目标将通过确定由单个人群产生的200个完全测序的近交系列的所有成员的周期长度来实现。通过进行全基因组关联，研究人员将确定与周期长度，开花时间和花朵大小变化相关的基因座。第二个目标将使用基于RNA测序的方法来表征先前鉴定的基因座对差异基因表达的替代等位基因的贡献。