Kelly Robertson: Research Interests <title> </head> <BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" LINK="#CC0000" VLINK="#CCCCCC" ALINK="#336633" TEXT="#FFFFFF"> <CENTER> <font size=-1> <P><BR> <font size=3> <A HREF="index.html"> Main Page</A> | <A HREF="http://www.uic.edu/labs/igic">Igic Lab</A> | Research Interests | <P> <LEFT> <font size=2> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="10" VALIGN="top" align="center"> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=CENTER colstart="1"> <img src=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/2474085418_305d71daf6.jpg?v=0 align="CENTER" alt="" height="300" width="300"> <TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=CENTER colstart="2" width="60%"> <B>Breeding System Evolution in the Solanaceae</B> <P><font size=2>The world's 250,000 species of flowering plants exhibit remarkable variation in mating system- the pattern of mating between and within individuals. Mating systems are primary factors governing evolutionary processes, as they are principal determinants of both the amount and distribution of genetic variation in space and time (Fisher 1930). Despite the fact that the majority of plants are hermaphrodites and have the potential to self-fertilize, many do not. Self-incompatibility (SI) is the most common cause of enforced outcrossing (Igic et al. 2006). Although it evolved many times independently, its breakdown and the subsequent transition to self-compatibility (SC) is a salient feature of plant evolution (Stebbins 1974). While this pattern is broadly accepted, the underlying ecological and evolutionary processes are poorly understood (Stone 2002). My research program aims to identify the causes and consequences of the breakdown of SI in <I>Solanum</I> section <I>Lycopersicon</I> (Solanaceae). Specifically, I merge genomic and genetic tools with ecological genetic approaches to examine the genetic changes associated with the breakdown of SI, whether they are novel, parallel, or introgressed in the genomes in different populations, and quantify their phenotypic effect. <P> <P> <P> </TABLE> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="10" VALIGN="top" align="left"> <TD ALIGN="LEFT" <B>Literature Cited</B> <P> <font size=2> Fisher, R.A. 1930. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Claredon Press, Oxford [ Variorum edition, Bennett, J.H. (Editor), 1999, Oxford University Press, Oxford]. <P>Igic, B., L. Bohs, J.R. Kohn. 2006. Ancient polymorphism reveals unidirectional breeding system shifts. PNAS 103(5): 1359-1363. <P>Stebbins, G.L. 1974. Flowering Plants: evolution above the species level. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press. <P>Stone, J.L. 2002. Molecular mechanisms underlying the breakdown of gametophytic self incompatibility. Quarterly Review of Biology 77: 17-32. </font> </TABLE>  <script type="text/javascript"> sc_project=3680418; sc_invisible=1; sc_partition=44; sc_security="761460e4"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script><noscript><div class="statcounter"><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/free_hit_counter.html" target="_blank"><img class="statcounter" src="http://c45.statcounter.com/3680418/0/761460e4/1/" alt="site hit counter" ></a></div></noscript>  </body> </html>