Evolutionary transitions in plant reproductive systems

固定性、两性、模块化和对花粉载体的依赖塑造了植物生殖多样性的进化。自从达尔文在植物上的开创性工作以来，了解支配生殖系统转变的进化过程被认为是进化生物学的中心问题。对植物繁殖的研究提供了一些通过自然选择进行适应进化和通过频率依赖选择保持多态的最佳例子。今天，植物繁殖的研究对一系列应用领域的进步至关重要，包括植物育种和生物技术、保护和入侵生物学以及评估转基因生物的环境后果。我的研究目标是了解植物生殖系统之间如何以及为什么会发生转变。为了实现这一点，我的实验室利用了在授粉和交配系统中显着的种内和种间变异，这在许多开花植物群中都很明显。我们使用不同的方法来测试与性别多样性的进化和功能意义有关的理论模型。这些学科包括系统发育重建、比较生物学、功能形态学、分子生态学以及生态和进化遗传学的工具。这项拨款解决了与进化转变有关的四个一般问题。其中两个是以前资助的NSERC项目的合乎逻辑的延伸，而另外两个则代表着新的方向。本研究旨在回答以下问题：1)是什么选择力量导致了雌雄异株植物性别策略的差异和性别比的变化？2)异株植物自交进化的基因组后果和遗传结构是什么？3)在异花柱植物中，什么机制导致了偏向的形态比和有性系统之间的转换？4)为什么风媒授粉是从动物授粉进化而来的？这项研究应该会为导致开花植物惊人的性别多样性的进化过程提供新的见解。它还将培养高素质的研究生和在生态学和进化生物学方面具有广泛专业知识的PDF。

Immobility, hermaphroditism, modularity, and reliance on pollen vectors shape the evolution of plant reproductive diversity. Understanding the evolutionary processes governing transitions in reproductive systems is recognized as a central problem in evolutionary biology since Darwin's pioneering work on plants. Studies of plant reproduction provide some of the best examples of the evolution of adaptation by natural selection and of the maintenance of polymorphisms by frequency-dependent selection. Today, the study of plant reproduction is critical for advances in a range of applied fields, including plant breeding and biotechnology, conservation and invasion biology, and assessment of the environmental consequences of genetically modified organisms. The goal of my research is to understand how and why transitions occur between plant reproductive systems. To achieve this my laboratory exploits the striking intra and interspecific variation in pollination and mating systems evident in many flowering plant groups. We employ diverse approaches to test theoretical models concerned with the evolution and functional significance of sexual diversity. These include phylogeny reconstruction, comparative biology, functional morphology, molecular ecology and the tools of ecological and evolutionary genetics. This grant addresses four general questions concerned with evolutionary transitions. Two are logical extensions of previously funded NSERC projects whereas the other two represent new directions. The research aims at answering the following questions: 1) What selective forces account for variation in gender strategies and sex-ratio variation in dioecious plants? 2) What are the genomic consequences and genetic architecture responsible for the evolution of selfing from outcrossing? 3) In heterostylous plants, what mechanisms cause biased morph ratios and transitions between sexual systems? 4) Why does wind pollination evolve from animal pollination? This research should provide new insights into the evolutionary processes responsible for the spectacular sexual diversity of flowering plants. It will also result in the training of high caliber graduate students & PDFs with broad expertise in ecology & evolutionary biology.