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Evolution of floral size control in the genus Capsella

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA384
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Michael Lenhard
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	22,858
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2009
End date	31/03/2010
Duration	6 months

Abstract

A fascinating challenge in biology is to understand how the evolution of molecular mechanisms leads to phenotypic variation. In plants, the morphology of flowers is subject to strong selective pressures, given their central role for reproduction. A common trend of flower evolution is the reduction of floral display following the transition from out-breeding via animal pollinators to selfing. This reduction of flower size is commonly assumed to reflect a conflict between pollination efficiency and energy cost; for a selfing species, pollinators become dispensable, and the presumed energetic cost to build large flowers for pollinator attraction would have losts its adaptive value. The genus Capsella is a genetically amenable model to dissect the genetic basis of this major trend in flower evolution. The selfing species C. rubella, with its dramatically reduced flowers, evolved from C. grandiflora, an outbreeding species with large flowers. The Lenhard group has identified and mendelized quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying the change in flower size in the genus Capsella. This project proposes to use three complementary approaches to better understand evolutionary changes in flower morphology in relation to changes in the mating system. (1) A positional cloning approach will be used to identify the causal gene underlying the major flower size QTL. (2) Comparative QTL mapping and population genetic analyses will be employed to reconstitute the history of floral evolution in Capsella. (3) Isogenic lines differing only in flower size will be generated to rigorously determine the fitness value of flower size in a selfing species. This project will provide important novel insight into the genetic mechanisms and the forces driving evolutionary changes in morphology; at the same time, it will offer a highly relevant multidisciplinary training at the overlap of molecular biology and evolutionary genetics, which will be an increasingly sought-after combination.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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