FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS IN CLOSE WILD RELATIVES OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA

这个子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和调查员(PI)可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可能会出现在其他CRISE条目中。列出的机构是针对中心的，而不一定是针对调查员的机构。这项拟议的研究侧重于比较食草动物和竞争对手对植物的自然选择的强度，以了解可能形成了对食草动物和竞争的同时挑战的有趣反应的进化力量。最近关于抗性和竞争能力同步进化的理论研究发现，当竞争对手的选择大于食草动物的选择时，植物可能会切换到耐受策略。这些选择模式也可能导致了类似的塑料从毒素到耐受性的转换，在我们最近对严格牛肝菌的研究中观察到了。为了估计野外自然选择的强度，我们对从自然发生的植物收集的数据进行了通径分析和回归分析。目前的通径分析方法允许我们从从单个植物收集的表型数据中提取遗传相关性。自然发生植物的总遗传变异的回归分析是通过使用中性分子标记鉴定自交系来完成的。在这些分析中，假设环境影响在品系中是随机的；因此，我们还计划确定环境、遗传和生态变量之间是否存在任何空间格局。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The proposed research focuses on the comparison of the strength of natural selection on plants by herbivores and competitors to understand the evolutionary forces that may have shaped an intriguing response to the simultaneous challenges of herbivory and competition. Recent theoretical studies on the simultaneous evolution of resistance and competitive ability found that plants may switch to a tolerance strategy when selection by competitors is greater than selection by herbivores. These patterns of selection may also have led to the similar plastic switch from toxins to tolerance observed in our recent studies on Boechera stricta. To estimate strength of natural selection in the wild we use path analysis and regression analysis on data collected from naturally occurring plants. Current methods of path analysis allow us to extract genetic correlations from phenotypic data collected from individual plants. Regression analysis of total genetic variation in naturally occurring plants is accomplished by identifying inbred lines using neutral molecular markers. In these analyses, it is assumed that environmental effects are randomized among lines; therefore we also plan to determine whether any spatial patterns exist among environmental, genetic, and ecological variables.