(1100-02) A Genetic Test for Serpentine-Specific Natural Selection in the Lyre-Leaf Rockcress, Arabidopsis lyrata, an Important Element of the State Line Serpentine Barrens of Eastern North America.
Assistant Professor Millersville University Millersville, Pennsylvania
Body of Abstract: A short-lived perennial in the mustard family, Arabidopsis lyrata, is often used in studies of plant ecology and evolution due to its high level of morphological and genetic polymorphism. A. lyrata can grow in disturbed or disadvantaged habitats, such as on nutrient poor serpentine soils high in heavy metals. We aim to provide insight into adaptation and evolution of this species through examining gene flows between A. lyrata populations growing in the same geographic area (Mid-Atlantic) but in drastically different habitats, on more hospitable non-serpentine soils and on nutrient poor and toxic serpentine soils of serpentine barrens. Gene flow between populations was investigated through comparison of alleles of selected microsatellite loci. We aim to determine whether populations growing on serpentine barrens are highly adapted and genetically closer to each other, with genetic exchanges occurring mainly within and between them despite geographic distance, or if they are the result of adaptation of local non-serpentine soil populations.In the latter case serpentine soil populations would be more similar to their non-serpentine neighbors. Results and conclusions of this study will be presented.