Phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in tribe Lycieae (Solanaceae)

In the first two years of the Lycieae grant, J.S. Miller and R.A. Levin have traveled extensively to collect plant materials. Working and traveling with our collaborators Dr. Gabriel Bernardello in Argentina (link to picture of GB with Grabowskia) and Dr. Andor Venter (link to picture at the Geo Potts Herbarium in Bloemfontein, South Africa), we have collected over 300 accessions and 25 species for which we did not yet have material. We have generated considerable DNA sequence data, with a focus on the nuclear granule bound starch synthase gene (GBSSI) and the chloroplast spacer regions trnT-trnL and trnD-trnT . Given that Lycium appears to have evolved fairly recently, we are constantly searching for gene regions that exhibit high levels of variation.

A number of Amherst College undergraduates have contributed to the data for this project, extracting genomic DNA from leaf tissue, PCR amplifying nuclear and chloroplast regions, and generating sequence data. Undergraduate research assistants Katelyn Gamson, Jackie Eastman, and Peter Murphy have been a great help in the lab to facilitate this project. Two Amherst College undergraduate students have worked on Lycieae phylogenetics for their senior honors thesis research. In 2005 Jessica Blanton explored the utility of the nuclear nitrate reductase gene for phylogenetic inference in a group of American Lycium. Joshua Shak accompanied J.S. Miller and R.A. Levin to southern African in July-August 2005 (link to picture of Josh, Jill and Rachel outside Muisbosskerm, the delicious Lycium tetrandum restaurant). Upon returning to the laboratory he focused his project on the Old World Lycium species, exploring possible hybridization among African Lycium.