Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

We will discover the genes responsible for self-incompatibility and reproduction in the plant known as Turnera. Little is known of the genes involved in this system (known as distyly) which prevents the plants from self-fertilizing and hence, avoids the often harmful effects of inbreeding. This particular breeding system has been a classic system of study beginning with Darwin (1887) and proceeding through the rediscovery of genetics in the early 1900s, and subsequently used by a number of biologists for population genetic and other studies. While the plants we study are not important in agriculture (although two have been used for medicinal purposes), there is a potential that the genes discovered could be of value in manipulating crop plant reproduction. Not only do the plants we study possess an as yet unknown physiological mechanism that prevents self-fertilization, they also possess differences in the structure of their flowers. The structure of flowers regulates plant reproduction and can be critically important in maximizing the numbers of seeds or fruits that a plant produces. We expect to discover genes controlling plant mating (that is, the genes that prevent self-feritilzation) and others determining the development of reproductive structures (that is, that determine the structure of the reproductive organs of flowers). The information we obtain will be important for plant genetics, plant molecular biology, plant evolution and possibly in agriculture.