RPG: Evolution of Whole Plant Ontogeny in Pelargonium

小行星9408208 在过去的几年里，发展已经成为进化生物学的一个重要主题。 从动物发育的跨学科研究中获得的最新见解正在为比较生物学的新综合奠定基础。 然而，在植物中进行的类似研究很少。 PI将启动天竺葵属全株生长形式分化的发育基础研究。 这是一个理想的组，因为1）物种表现出巨大的范围内的整个植物形态; 2）基因序列的初步分析表明，历史关系可以解决在这个组;和3）组是很好的研究，但在其他方面的发展形态学的基础研究是缺乏的。 PI将比较天竺葵亚属中每个主要谱系的三个物种的幼苗的形态学和组织学发育。 拟议的调查重点放在幼苗，因为这个阶段的生命周期代表了最早的表达的身体计划。 幼苗的生态重要结构的结构比较，以及在后期阶段表达的构造规则的推导，将为推导整个植物体计划以及评估蓄水和碳水化合物储存组织形成的开始和时间的重要性提供框架。

9408208 Jones Within the last few years, development has emerged as a major theme in evolutionary biology. Recent insights gainsed from interdisciplinary studies of development in animals are laying the foundation for a new synthesis in comparative biology. There have been very few comparable studies in plants, however. The PI will initiate a study of the developmental basis of differentiation in whole plant growth form in the genus Pelargonium. This is an ideal group for this study because 1) species exhibit a tremendous range of whole plant morphology; 2) preliminary analyses of gene sequences suggest that historical relationships can be resolved in this group; and 3) the group is well studied in other respects but basic studies of developmental morphology are lacking. the PI will compare morphological and histological development of seedlings in three species from each major lineage in the subgenus Pelargonium. The proposed investigation focusses on seedlings because this stage of the life cycle represents the earliest expression of the body plan. Structural comparisons of ecologically important structures of seedlings, together with deduction of rules of construction expressed at later stages, will provide the framework for deduction of the whole plant body plan as well as assessment of the importance of the onset and timing of formation of water-storing and carbohydrate-storing tissues.