Evolutionary transitions in plant reproductive systems

不动性、两性畸形、模块性和对花粉载体的依赖塑造了植物生殖多样性的进化。自达尔文在植物上的开创性工作以来，了解生殖系统的进化过程被认为是进化生物学的核心问题。植物繁殖的研究提供了一些最好的例子，说明自然选择的适应性进化和频率依赖选择的多态性维持。今天，植物繁殖的研究对于一系列应用领域的进展至关重要，包括植物育种和生物技术，保护和入侵生物学以及转基因生物的环境后果评估。我的研究目标是了解植物生殖系统之间发生转换的方式和原因。为了实现这一点，我的实验室利用显着的内部和种间的授粉和交配系统在许多显花植物群体明显的变化。我们采用不同的方法来测试与性多样性的进化和功能意义有关的理论模型。这些包括发育重建，比较生物学，功能形态学，分子生态学和生态和进化遗传学的工具。这项资助解决了与进化转型有关的四个一般性问题。其中两个是以前资助的NSERC项目的逻辑扩展，而另外两个代表了新的方向。本研究旨在回答以下问题：1）是什么样的选择力导致了雌雄异株植物的性别策略和性比的变异？2)什么是基因组的后果和遗传结构负责从异交自交的演变？3)在花柱异长的植物中，是什么机制导致了有性系统之间的畸形比例和转换？4)为什么风媒传粉是从动物传粉进化而来的？这项研究应该为开花植物壮观的性多样性的进化过程提供新的见解。它还将导致高素质的研究生和PDF在生态学和进化生物学的广泛专业知识的培训。

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.