Divergence of novel, parallel, and speciation traits: the mechanisms and consequences of yellow monkeyflower adaptation to extreme geothermal habitats

植物是如何适应极端环境的？这种适应的长期和短期后果是什么？了解让一些植物物种在不寻常的、贫瘠的栖息地茁壮成长的遗传和生理机制，既是一个基本的科学难题，也是减轻环境变化影响的关键。这项研究调查了黄猴花的适应性，黄猴花是少数几种生活在黄石国家公园炎热地区异常炎热土壤中的植物之一。使用新的基因组学方法，它将确定独特（例如，耐热性）和反复进化特征的基因，并询问它们如何有助于生存，繁殖和新物种的发展。所有焦点性状都与农业有关，因此该项目可能揭示可转移到作物上的抗逆性机制，同时也回答了基本的进化问题。该项目将培训蒙大拿州的学生掌握尖端的基因组学技术，并通过以国家公园为基础的推广工作，传达自然多样性的多重价值。该项目的主要目标是确定导致9个重点性状分化的基因组区域，并确定它们如何促进地方适应和物种障碍。这将揭示：a)植物如何应对极端环境；B)这是否会在更良性的条件下造成性能上的权衡；C)哪些遗传途径在适应过程中被重复使用；d)新物种形成的关键步骤是什么。该研究计划结合了基因图谱、生理分析和实地调查，并在多个空间尺度上进行全基因组扫描。

How do plants adapt to cope with extreme environments? What are the long- and short-term consequences of that adaptation? Understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that let a few plant species thrive in unusual, otherwise barren, habitats is both a fundamental scientific puzzle and a key to mitigating the effects of environmental change. This research investigates adaptation in the yellow monkeyflower, one of a handful of plants living in the extraordinarily hot soils of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park. Using new genomics approaches, it will determine the genes underlying unique (e.g., heat tolerance) and repeatedly evolving traits, and ask how they contribute to survival, reproduction, and the development of new species. All focal traits are of agricultural interest, so this project may reveal stress-tolerance mechanisms transferable to crops, while also answering fundamental evolutionary questions. The project will train Montana students in cutting-edge genomics techniques and, through National Park-based outreach efforts, communicate the multiple values of natural diversity. The primary goals of the project are to identify genomic regions contributing to divergence in nine focal traits and to determine how they contribute to both local adaptation and species barriers. This will reveal: a) how plants cope with extreme environments; b) whether that imposes tradeoffs in performance under more benign conditions; c) which genetic pathways are used repeatedly during adaptation; and d) what are the key steps in the formation of new species. The research plan combines genetic mapping, physiological assays, and field surveys with whole-genome scans at multiple spatial scales.