RUI: Collaborative Research: Genetic Analyses of Chemical Variation and Resistance to a Diverse Phytophage Community on Willow Hybrids

杂交对植物进化具有重要意义。最近的研究表明，杂交植物对食草动物的抗性可能不同于纯亲本植物对食草动物的抗性。与亲本品种相比，杂交种的抗性可能更强、更少、同等或中等。确定其中一种模式是否普遍存在，可能有助于理解植物-食草动物相互作用的重要生态和进化方面，以及杂交物种在考虑生物多样性问题中的作用。这个项目的重点是在同一栖息地共生的柳树物种及其杂交种。这两个亲本柳树物种的叶片中有不同的化学系统，可以在杂交后代和亲本中进行研究。PI已经开发了分子遗传标记来表征自然发生的和杂交的杂种和亲本物种。PI将分析田间植物、克隆植物和普通花园中的苗木的杂交、化学变异和草食动物抗性之间的关系。他将测试化学表达的差异是否与杂交种的食草动物抗性相关，并将使用分子标记来确定几个同时拥有两种柳树物种的群落的杂交频率。

Hybridization has been of major importance for plant evolution. Recent research has shown that hybrid plant resistance to herbivores may differ from resistance of pure parental plants to herbivores. Hybrids could be more, less, equally, or intermediately resistant compared to parental species. Determining if one of these patterns is prevalent could contribute to understanding important ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant-herbivore interactions, as well as the role of hybrids in considering issues of biological diversity. This project focuses on willow species and their hybrids that co-occur in the same habitat. The two parent willow species have different chemical systems in their leaves that can be studied in the hybrids and parents. The PI has developed molecular genetic markers to characterize naturally occurring and crossed hybrids and parental species. The PI will analyze the relationships between hybridization, chemical variation and herbivore resistance for field plants, and cloned and seedling plants in a common garden. He will test if differences in chemical expression are correlated with herbivore resistance of hybrids, and will use molecular markers to determine the frequency of hybridization in several communities that have both willow species.