DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics of Carex Section Ovales: The Challenge of Phylogeny at Fine Scales

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的保罗·贝里博士和安德鲁·希普先生获得了一笔赠款，用于研究北美大陆最大的开花植物群-苔草属-的一部分的进化历史。研究人员将使用几个层次的DNA分析，以确定在属的广泛和精细尺度的关系。大规模的DNA序列研究将确定苔草属内几个主要类群的关系，苔草属是美国各地重要的湿地植物，欧洲、中国和日本。精细的分子研究将使用称为AFLP分析的DNA指纹工具来确定密切相关物种之间的关系。 除了澄清世界上最大的和生态上重要的开花植物群体之一的关系，本研究将评估和开发新的方法，分析植物分子数据使用扩增片段长度多态性（AFLP）技术。这是一种遗传指纹工具，但迄今为止，对植物AFLP结果的解释不如用于医学或犯罪目的的动物DNA分析先进。更具体地说，这项研究的目的是提高技术，旨在确定适当的系谱在紧密结合的植物群体。因此，它们可以广泛应用于稀有和濒危物种以及保护生物学的研究。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Paul Berry and Mr. Andrew Hipp at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study the evolutionary history of part of the largest group of flowering plants in the North American continent, namely the sedge genus Carex. The investigators will use several levels of DNA analysis to determine relationships at both broad and fine scales in the genus. Broad scale DNA sequence studies will determine the relationships of several major groups within Carex, which is an important wetland plant throughout the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan. Fine scale molecular studies will use DNA fingerprinting tools called AFLP analysis to determine relationships between closely related species. Besides clarifying the relationships within one of the world's largest and ecologically important groups of flowering plants, this study will evaluate and develop new methods for analyzing plant molecular data using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. This is a sort of genetic fingerprinting tool, but the interpretation of plant AFLP results so far is less advanced than in animal DNA analysis for medical or criminal purposes. More specifically, this study aims to improve the techniques designed to determine the proper genealogy in closely knit groups of plants. As such, they could have broad applications for studies of rare and endangered species and conservation biology in general.