FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS IN CLOSE WILD RELATIVES OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。拟议的研究侧重于比较食草动物和竞争对手对植物的自然选择强度，以了解可能形成对食草和竞争同时挑战的有趣反应的进化力量。最近关于抗性和竞争能力同时进化的理论研究发现，当竞争对手的选择大于食草动物的选择时，植物可能会转向耐受策略。这些选择模式也可能导致了类似的塑料转换，从毒素到耐受性，在我们最近对Boechera stricta的研究中观察到。为了估计自然选择的强度，我们对从自然植物中收集的数据进行了通径分析和回归分析。目前的通径分析方法使我们能够从单个植物收集的表型数据中提取遗传相关性。自然植物总遗传变异的回归分析是通过中性分子标记鉴定自交系来完成的。在这些分析中，假设环境影响是随机的；因此，我们还计划确定环境、遗传和生态变量之间是否存在任何空间模式。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The proposed research focuses on the comparison of the strength of natural selection on plants by herbivores and competitors to understand the evolutionary forces that may have shaped an intriguing response to the simultaneous challenges of herbivory and competition. Recent theoretical studies on the simultaneous evolution of resistance and competitive ability found that plants may switch to a tolerance strategy when selection by competitors is greater than selection by herbivores. These patterns of selection may also have led to the similar plastic switch from toxins to tolerance observed in our recent studies on Boechera stricta. To estimate strength of natural selection in the wild we use path analysis and regression analysis on data collected from naturally occurring plants. Current methods of path analysis allow us to extract genetic correlations from phenotypic data collected from individual plants. Regression analysis of total genetic variation in naturally occurring plants is accomplished by identifying inbred lines using neutral molecular markers. In these analyses, it is assumed that environmental effects are randomized among lines; therefore we also plan to determine whether any spatial patterns exist among environmental, genetic, and ecological variables.