RUI Collaborative research: Genetic and cell behavioral characterization of nonrandom mating in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Because of their lack of mobility, flowering plants are sometimes thought to be passive mates, accepting all sperm indiscriminately. The pollen dusted across the female flower, however, is a mixture, whose proportions do not often match proportions within progeny. In other words, some pollen have greater mating success, a phenomenon called nonrandom mating. The principle scientists for this proposal will exploit tools available in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to study the genetic architecture and cell behaviors responsible for nonrandom mating among compatible mates. Using genetically-distinct accessions of A. thaliana, these scientists are constructing preliminary maps of the female and male genetic loci involved in nonrandom mating. These scientists are also characterizing pollen cell behaviors responsible for competitive performances in these two accessions, using microsurgery and races between pollen cells expressing fluorescent proteins of different colors. Compatible mate choice mechanisms have striking evolutionary significance in organisms across kingdoms. The two approaches outlined in this proposal, genetic and cell biological, compliment each other to yield a uniquely comprehensive understanding of these mechanisms in flowering plants; such studies address fundamental questions in plant reproductive choice and flower function and could be especially valuable in agriculture. Finally, this project demands cross-specialty collaboration between two undergraduate institutions, one of them a historically black college for women; this collaboration will expose and recruit students to research professions, while enhancing the research and teaching infrastructures of both institutions.
