Evolution and development of highly derived angiosperm families; vitaceae and cucurbitaceae

尽管利用分子生物学技术的新工具在植物发育和系统学方面取得了长足的进步，但仍存在几个关键问题：1）基于分子数据的亲缘关系（进化关系）与来自更经典形态学数据的亲缘关系是否一致？如果没有，矛盾就能解决吗？2)发育，特别是花的发育，在系统分类学和重建系统发育同源性中扮演什么样的角色？以及3）目前的花和营养体发育的分子模型如何适用于高度非正统的发育，例如葡萄科（Vitaceae）的叶并生卷须（花序）和黄瓜科（Cucurbitaceae）的腋生复合体（卷须、腋芽、雄花序和雌花序）？建议的研究的目标是解决上述问题，重点是两个高度衍生的被子植物家庭;葡萄科和葫芦科。我们在拟议的研究中的方法是看比较发展，并将我们的研究结果与当前基于DNA的基因组学相匹配。对于我们的发育研究，我们计划使用几种技术，包括扫描电子显微镜，落射照明光学显微镜（最近由我们的实验室修改，以增加焦深），共聚焦激光显微镜和各种组织学协议，包括石蜡和塑料厚切片。我们进行这项研究的方法是独一无二的，因为很少有实验室拥有形态学和发育数据库，可以与分子遗传学进行广泛的比较。此外，我们的目标是与从事分子生物学和分子开发的实验室合作，以建立一个具有充分代表性和尽可能完整的组合数据集。我们的方法的意义是汇集尽可能多的比较数据，我们可以，无论是发展和分子，以构建一个强大的同源性，也了解复杂的进化起源，如卷须在葡萄科。

Although great strides have been made in plant development and systematics using the new tools available through molecular techniques, several key questions remain: 1) Are phylogenies (evolutionary relations) based on molecular data in agreement with those derived from more classical morphological data? And if not can the inconsistencies be resolved? 2) What role does or should development, in particular floral development, play in systematics and in reconstructing phylogenetic homologies? and 3) how applicable are current molecular models of floral and vegetative development to highly unorthodox developments such as leaf apposed tendrils (inflorescences) in the grape family (Vitaceae) and the axillary complex (tendril, axillary bud, male and female inflorescence) in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae)? The objectives of the proposed research are to address the above questions by focusing on two highly derived angiosperm families; the Vitaceae and the Cucurbitaceae. Our methodology in the proposed research is to look at comparative development and to match our findings with current DNA-based phylogenies. For our developmental studies we plan to use several techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, epi-illumination light microscopy (recently modified by our lab to increase depth of focus), confocal laser microscopy and various histological protocols including paraffin and plastic thick sectioning. Our approach to this research is unique since very few labs have the morphological and developmental databases to allow for extensive comparisons with molecular phylogenies. As well, our goal is to collaborate with labs working with molecular phylogenies and with molecular development in order to build up a combined data set that is fully representative and as complete as possible. The significance of our approach is to bring together as much comparative data as we can, both developmental and molecular, in order to construct a robust phylogeny and also to understand complex evolutionary origins such as the tendril in the Vitaceae.