DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Contribution of specific floral odorants to differential attraction and reproductive isolation in monkeyflowers (Mimulus)

开花植物的大部分生物多样性是由于它们与动物传粉者的共同进化关系。每一种传粉者都被一朵特定的花所吸引，因为这朵花的颜色、大小、形状、花蜜奖励或气味。人们对引起气味变化进而影响传粉者行为的特定基因所起的作用知之甚少。猕猴花属包含两个物种，它们仅通过传粉者的偏好（蜂鸟和大黄蜂）来区分。这两种含羞草在花香上有明显的差异。该提案主要关注两个问题：1)Mimulus的这些气味差异背后的基因是什么？2)在这些遗传性状上不同的植物将如何影响自然界中蜂鸟和大黄蜂传粉者的反应？这里提出的工作解决了物种多样性背后更广泛的进化原则。此外，由于昆虫授粉每年为农业提供2250亿美元的服务，因此了解植物-传粉媒介相互作用的遗传和进化基础对粮食安全具有重要意义。

Much of the biodiversity of flowering plants is due to their coevolutionary relationships with animal pollinators. Each species of pollinator is attracted to a particular flower because of the flower's color, size, shape, nectar reward, or scent. Little is known about the role of specific genes that cause changes in scent that then affect pollinator behavior. The genus Mimulus (monkeyflowers) contains two species that are separated only by the preferences of their pollinators (hummingbirds and bumblebees). The two Mimulus species have marked differences in their floral scents. This proposal focuses on two questions: 1) What are the genes that underlie these scent differences in Mimulus?; and, 2) How will plants that differ in these genetic traits affect the response of hummingbird and bumblebee pollinators in nature? The work proposed here addresses broader evolutionary principles that underlie species diversity. Additionally, since insect pollination is responsible for $225 billion per year in service to agriculture, understanding the genetic and evolutionary basis of plant-pollinator interactions has important implications for food security.