极端生态环境下青藏垫柳基因家族适应性进化机制研究

生活在极端生境下的生物是如何适应极端生境的？适应机制是什么？这些问题是现代进化生物学和分子生态学研究的核心内容之一。本项目选择“世界上最矮的树”青藏垫柳为研究对象，青藏垫柳仅分布在青藏高原及横断山脉海拔4000米以上的高原，茎杆不是直立状，而是沿着地表或潜入地下匍匐生长，整个植株高度不超过5厘米。本项目以青藏垫柳GST基因家族为例，以垂柳GST基因家族为对比，结合进化生物学、分子生物学、生物化学、转基因等方法和技术，研究青藏垫柳GST基因家族拷贝数变异、基因表达模式、编码蛋白功能，从而揭示基因家族变异与对极端生境适应之间的内在联系。

How does organism adapt to extreme environments? What is the mechanism of organism adapting to extreme environment? These questions are the core contents of modern evolutionary biology and molecular ecology. This project selects the world's shortest tree “Salix lindleyana”as the experimental materials. S. lindleyana is distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an altitude of more than 4000m. S. lindleyana creeps along the surface or submerged underground, and the height of the entire plant is often not more than 5 cm. This project will focus on the GST gene family of S. lindleyana, and GST gene family of Salix babylonica is used for comparison. Using comprehensive methods of evolutionary biology, molecular biology, biochemistry and transgenic technology, this project will investigate the copy number variation, gene expression pattern, and function of the encoded protein of S. lindleyana GST gene family. This study will reveal the relationship between gene family variation and the adaptation of organisms to extreme environments.