EVOREP-Evolutionary Genomics of Plant Reproductive Isolation

生殖隔离机制是进化研究的中心议题，因为它们决定了种群间遗传交换的频率，并最终促成新物种的起源。植物生殖隔离的遗传基础知之甚少。我们建议通过调查控制繁殖成功或失败的遗传参数来研究生殖隔离的机制。我们假设，生态和地理分离后的生殖过程的进化分歧，导致减少生殖成功和种群或密切相关的物种之间的基因流。因此，生殖分化是物种形成的重要步骤。我们将集中讨论在交配后，但在合子前和合子后立即起作用的成分，如控制配子体形成和数量的基因，它们在受精前的相互交流，以及控制受精成功的因素。从基本的发育过程和进化基因组学的既定知识出发，我们将识别和研究控制生殖的候选基因的功能，询问进化如何塑造基因产物及其相互作用，并研究基因变异在不同生态和遗传背景中的适应性效应。在这里，我们提出了一个欧洲的合作和跨学科的建议，分析植物生殖障碍的遗传和分子基础上系统和严格的方式，使用国家的最先进的生态和进化功能基因组学的工具。

Mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a central topic of evolutionary research because they determine the frequency of genetic exchange between populations and ultimately contribute to the origin of new species. The genetic basis of reproductive isolation in plants is poorly understood. We propose to study mechanisms of reproductive isolation by investigating the genetic parameters controlling success or failure of reproduction itself. We hypothesize that evolutionary divergence of reproductive processes after ecological and geographic separation leads to reduced reproductive success and gene flow between populations or closely related species. Therefore, reproductive divergence constitutes an important step in speciation. We will concentrate on components that act post-mating, but pre- and immediately post-zygotic, such as genes controlling the formation and number of gametophytes, their communication with each other preceding fertilization, and factors governing fertilization success. Starting from established knowledge about the underlying developmental processes and evolutionary genomics, we will identify and investigate the function of candidate genes controlling reproduction, ask how evolution has shaped gene products and their interplay, and study the fitness effects of gene variants in different ecological and genetic backgrounds. We here present a European collaborative and cross-disciplinary proposal to analyse the genetic and molecular basis of plant reproductive barriers in a systematic and rigorous fashion, using state-of-the-art tools of ecological and evolutionary functional genomics.