Two central themes in plant genomics have fully emerged in recent years: (1) polyploidy has been
pervasive in shaping the diversity of crops and their wild relatives, and (2) epistatic interactions between
cytoplasmic (i. More...
Two central themes in plant genomics have fully emerged in recent years: (1) polyploidy has been
pervasive in shaping the diversity of crops and their wild relatives, and (2) epistatic interactions between
cytoplasmic (i.e., mitochondrial and plastid) and nuclear genomes are complex and key to determining
the outcome of hybridization/introgression. However, remarkably little attention has been paid to the
relationship between polyploidy and cytonuclear interactions, even though the generation of polyploids is
expected to perturb the stoichiometric and epistatic basis of these interactions. The research program
presented here will address this gap by performing genome-wide, hypothesis-based tests of the effects of
merging two or more differentiated genomes on cytonuclear interactions, using five model genera that
span the diversity of crops and allopolyploid angiosperms. The research will be integrated with outreach
and education efforts from the middle-school level up to high school teachers and university faculty, all
toward broadening participation in computational biology, plant genomics, and scientific research more
generally. Less...