This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Understanding the barriers to reproduction between species is central to evolutionary biology. The evolution of reproductive barriers is a key step in the accumulation of genetic differences among populations of plants and animals, ultimately leading to the formation of new species. By understanding mechanisms of reproductive isolation, broad insight into the origins and maintenance of biological diversity can be gained. This research focuses on reproductive isolation between closely related native plant species that exhibit a common form of reproductive isolation due to competition among male gametes (pollen) during pollination. This research will identify the molecules that are responsible for pollen competition, revealing how these molecules contribute to reproductive isolation among species. The work integrates classical genetic approaches, state of the art technologies, and powerful statistical analyses in a collaboration building on the strengths of two researchers at separate institutions. It has the potential to transform the study of the molecules responsible for reproductive isolation and speciation.
This work will train graduate and undergraduate students in modern tools of biological research. Students from groups currently under-represented in the sciences will be targeted using existing recruitment tools and aspects of these studies will contribute to existing programs enhancing K-12 science. In addition, because this work develops novel methods for identifying the causes and consequences of reproductive isolation, it may lead to new approaches in solving issues in the fields of human reproductive health.
