Collaborative Research: Population differentiation in an herbaceous plant: genetic divergence and outbreeding depression

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。摘要：在植物中，物种之间的区分往往不完全，导致杂交品种的产生往往表现不佳。相反，在单一物种内，遗传分化可能在孤立的种群之间发展，导致杂交表现不佳，称为远交抑制。本研究的长期目标是评估一种草本植物的近亲繁殖抑制和遗传分化模式，其中初步数据显示种群间杂交的表现相对于其亲本降低了90%。实现这一目标需要适合于评估群体分化的分子遗传标记。提出的研究将开发分子标记，并利用这些标记来评估四个孤立种群之间的差异。对遗传分化和近亲繁殖抑制的研究很重要，因为它们提供了对物种形成早期阶段的一瞥。此外，保护和恢复项目通常涉及将不同种群的个体结合起来。更好地了解近亲繁殖抑制的来源，对于做出有关混合不同种群的基因库的管理决策是必要的。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).ABSTRACTIn plants, the distinction between species is often not complete, allowing for the production of hybrids that frequently perform poorly. Conversely, within a single species, genetic differentiation may develop between isolated populations resulting in poor performance of crosses, termed outbreeding depression. The long-term goal of this research is to evaluate patterns of outbreeding depression and genetic divergence for an herbaceous plant where preliminary data reveal up to a 90% reduction in performance of between-population crosses relative to their parents. Addressing this goal requires molecular genetic markers suitable for assessing population differentiation. The proposed research will develop molecular markers and use those markers to evaluate divergence among four isolated populations. Studies of genetic divergence and outbreeding depression are important as they provide a glimpse into the earliest stages of speciation. In addition, conservation and restoration programs often involve combining individuals from different populations. A greater understanding of the source of outbreeding depression is necessary to make management decisions about mixing gene pools from different populations.