An award has been made to the University of California at Berkeley under the direction of Dr. Chelsea D. Specht to study the role several genes affecting flowering and floral symmetry in a family of plants that includes gingers, bananas, and the bird of paradise plant. The grant will improve the doctoral dissertation research of Madelaine Bartlett. Flowering plants are astoundingly diverse, and changes in floral symmetry are thought to have been one driving force in the evolution of this diversity. The goal of the proposed research is to investigate the role of two candidate gene families, the CYC-like genes and the B and C class MADS box genes, in the initiation and elaboration of floral symmetry in the monocotyledonous order Zingiberales, which contains about 2,000 species. Multiple changes in floral symmetry have occurred in the Zingiberales, making it an ideal order in which to study the evolution of this important ecological trait. It is hypothesized that there will be shifts in gene sequence, number and expression accompanying shifts in symmetry across the order. Modern phylogenetic methods will be used to investigate the evolutionary history of these gene families. Their expression patterns in developing flowers with differing symmetries will be assessed using in situ hybridization and RT-PCR.
Understanding the genetics of how flowering plant diversity evolved is critically important in deciding how to protect and maintain such diversity now and in the future. This study is one of the first to expand our knowledge of floral development to the petaloid monocots, and the first to expand this research to tropical monocots. Through the continuation of this research project, at least two additional undergraduate students will be trained in molecular lab work and the scientific process. This research will also result in the dissemination of knowledge through publications, presentations at scientific meetings, and a website with procedures and protocols for extending molecular genetic research to non-model systems.
