RUI: Mating System Evolution at the Interface of Populations and Species in Linanthus (Polemoniaceae)

这项研究是Linanthus（Polemoniaceae）自交不亲和性和自花受精进化研究的继续。 自交不亲和性（SI）是高等植物的一个共同特征，是植物识别和排斥自花花粉的遗传机制。 SI的分解，导致自花受精，已知在开花植物的进化历史中经常发生。 拟议的一系列实验将探索一种新发现的短暂形式的SI，它可能代表SI崩溃和自我受精进化的“快照”。 在洛jepsonii，自花受精被阻止几个小时或几天，之后花变得完全能够自花受精。 拟议的实验将描述这种现象，其遗传基础，以及其对自花受精率的影响。 分子方法将被用来探索不同的程度的瞬态SI的人口之间的进化关系。 拟议的研究将有助于SI的基础知识，这一现象对作物育种具有重要意义。 这种机制的遗传和生理基础已经得到了相当多的研究，但我们对SI分解的过程知之甚少。 该项目旨在促进对本科生的培训。 该研究的模块化性质，包括一系列离散的实验，将使本科生获得一系列方法的经验，包括实地研究，荧光显微镜，授粉实验和分子技术。

The proposed research continues an ongoing exploration of self-incompatibility and the evolution of self-fertilization in Linanthus (Polemoniaceae). Self-incompatibility (SI), a genetic mechanism that allows plants to recognize and reject self-pollen, is a common feature of higher plants. The breakdown of SI, resulting in self-fertilization, is known to have occurred frequently throughout the evolutionary history of flowering plants. The proposed series of experiments will explore a newly discovered transient form of SI that may represent a "snapshot" in the breakdown of SI and evolution toward self-fertilization. In L. jepsonii, self-fertilization is prevented for a few hours or days, after which flowers become fully capable of self-fertilization. The proposed experiments will characterize this phenomenon, its genetic basis, and its effect on the rate of self-fertilization. Molecular methods will be used to explore evolutionary relationships among populations that differ in the extent of transient SI. The proposed research will contribute basic knowledge about SI, a phenomenon that has important implications for crop plant breeding. The genetic and physiological bases of this mechanism have received considerable study, yet we know little about the process by which SI breaks down. The project has been designed to foster training of undergraduate students. The modular nature of the research, comprising a series of discrete experiments, will allow undergraduates gain experience in a range of methodologies, including field studies, fluorescence microscopy, pollination experiments, and molecular techniques