RCN: MicroMORPH: Microevolutionary Molecular and Organismic Research in Plant History

植物占全球人类卡路里摄入量的三分之二以上，并产生了我们每次呼吸所消耗的大部分氧气。然而，尽管植物在人类生活和地球上的大多数生态系统中处于中心地位，但关于单一物种内的植物种群如何分化为两个独立物种的发展基础，仍有许多未知之处。自从查尔斯·达尔文开辟了通过自然选择进行修饰的进化范式以来，我们第一次有机会在基因组(DNA)的水平上了解种群和物种内进化变化的发展基础。鉴于最近遗传和基因组信息的爆炸性增长，现在可用于各种植物物种的信息尤其如此。该奖项将促进研究这些问题的科学家之间的网络联系和研究协调。计划中的主要网络活动包括1)一系列涉及研究生和教师的跨代和跨学科研讨会，2)为学生(本科生暑期实习和毕业生离家转学)、博士后学者和初级教师提供跨学科培训机会，3)向科学中代表性较低的群体开展外联活动(通过在少数族裔学生人数较多的机构举行的小型研讨会)，以及4)为微型MORPH研究协调网络(RCN)开发一个网站。RCN的广泛包容性和跨学科的互动将为学生、博士后学者和教师提供一个独特的机会，将历史上不同的领域结合起来，进而开发微进化和发育植物生物学接口的研究计划。微型MORPH RCN的总体目标是在自然种群和密切相关物种的动态背景下，通过将基因(DNA)从发育到形态，并最终到适应和适合度，整合不同的方法来研究植物的物种形成和多样性。

Plants are responsible for over two-thirds of human caloric intake worldwide, and for the production of most of the oxygen that we consume with every breath. Yet despite the centrality of plants to human life and most ecosystems on Earth, much remains unknown about the developmental basis of how populations of plants within a single species diverge to become two separate species. For the first time since Charles Darwin opened up the evolutionary paradigm of descent with modification through natural selection, we have the opportunity to understand the developmental underpinnings of evolutionary change within populations and species at the level of the genome (DNA). This is especially true in light of the recent explosive growth in genetic and genomic information now available for a wide diversity of plant species. This award will facilitate networking and research coordination among scientists investigating these issues.Major planned networking activities include 1) a series of intergenerational and interdisciplinary workshops involving graduate students and faculty, 2) support for cross-disciplinary training opportunities for students (undergraduate summer internships and graduate rotations away from the home institution), postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty, 3) outreach activities to underrepresented groups in the sciences (through mini-symposia to be held at institutions with substantial minority student populations), and 4) development of a website for the microMORPH Reasearch Coordination Network (RCN). The broadly inclusive and cross-disciplinary interactions of this RCN will provide a unique opportunity for students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty to combine historically diverse fields and in turn to develop research programs at the interface of microevolutionary and developmental plant biology. The overarching goal of the microMORPH RCN is to integrate contrasting approaches to the study of speciation and diversification of plants by linking genes (DNA) through development to morphology, and ultimately to adaptation and fitness, within the dynamic context of natural populations and closely related species.