FIBR: Integrated Ecological and Genomic Analysis of Speciation in Mimulus

自达尔文时代以来，生物学家一直在寻找有关新物种如何产生的基本问题的答案。物种形成很难研究，因为它是一个渐进的过程，通常发生的时间比科学家的一生都长。基因组工具现在使解决许多一个多世纪以来没有答案的关键问题成为可能。该项目涉及种群生物学、遗传学、生态学、基因组技术、生物信息学和计算生物学等领域的合作，将通过阐明Mimulus群体物种形成机制的分子遗传学基础来研究新物种是如何产生的。分子遗传信息将用于回答生态隔离、配偶选择和基因组不相容在物种形成事件和维持物种完整性中的作用等具体问题。这项研究的一个更广泛的影响是一个涉及代表性不足的群体的跨学科指导计划，这将为学生的合作研究做好准备。这项研究的另一个重要的更广泛的影响是，它将为一组植物开发基因组工具，这些植物对生态学家和进化生物学家来说非常有趣，因为它们的繁殖系统、传粉者和栖息地的多样性。将研究重点放在这个多样化和有趣的群体上的一大群科学家将从这些工具的发展中受益匪浅。

Biologists have been seeking answers to fundamental questions about how new species arise since the time of Darwin. Speciation is difficult to study because it is a gradual process that generally occurs in a time frame that is longer than a scientist's lifetime. Genomic tools now make it possible to address many of the pivotal questions that have been left unanswered for over a century. This project, involving collaborations between the fields of population biology, genetics, ecology, genome technology, bioinformatics, and computational biology, will investigate how new species arise by elucidating the molecular genetic basis of speciation mechanisms in the Mimulus group. The molecular genetic information will be used to answer specific questions about the role of ecological isolation, mate choice, and genomic incompatibility in speciation events and in maintaining species integrity. A broader impact of this research is a cross-disciplinary mentoring program involving underrepresented groups that will prepare students for collaborative research. Another significant broader impact of this research is that it will develop genomic tools for a group of plants that are extremely interesting to ecologists and evolutionary biologists because of their diversity of breeding systems, pollinators and habitats. A large community of scientists who have focused their research on this diverse and interesting group will benefit substantially from the development of these tools.