Mimulus Community
The Mimulus Community
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General Info
The genus Mimulus (historically "Scrophulariaceae," order Lamiales) has been a model plant system for ecological and evolutionary genetics for over 50 years (Vickery, 1951). Check out the poster of the phylogeny of the Mimulus genus.
Mimulus guttatus Complex
The Mimulus guttatus species complex (yellow monkey flowers) is a group of closely related species exhibiting the common evolutionary transition from outcrossing to self-pollination. Mimulus presents an excellent model system for studies of evolution because of its broad diversity of floral morphologies, incomplete reproductive barriers, and its amenability to experimental manipulation.
Mimulus lewisii Complex
Mimulus section Erythranthe is a western North American group of perennial wildflowers with a wide diversity of floral forms. Included within this section are the bee-pollinated M. lewisii and the hummingbird-pollinated M. cardinalis. This system has a long history of study (1), and continues to be the subject of active research in systematics (2) and the genetics and ecology of speciation (3-5). Another close relative of M. lewisii is the lesser-studied M. parishii, which is a small-flowered, highly selfing species of the desert Southwest. The diversity of pollination syndrome, mating system, and habitat preference found within this section makes it a uniquely amenable model system for studies in ecology, genetics, and evolutionary biology of natural populations.
- Hiesey, W. M., Nobs, M. A. & Bjorkman, O. Experimental Studies on the Nature of Species. V. Biosystematics, genetics, and physiological ecology of the Erythranthe section of Mimulus (Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 628, Washington, D.C., 1971).
- Beardsley, P. M., Yen, A. & Olmstead, R. G. AFLP phylogeny of Mimulus section Erythranthe and the evolution of hummingbird pollination. Evolution 57, 1397-1410 (2003).
- Bradshaw, H. D. & Schemske, D. W. Allele substitution at a flower colour locus produces a pollinator shift in monkeyflowers. Nature 426, 176-178 (2003).
- Bradshaw, H. D., Wilbert, S. M., Otto, K. G. & Schemske, D. W. Genetic mapping of floral traits associated with reproductive isolation in monkeyflowers (Mimulus). Nature 376, 762-765 (1995).
- Ramsey, J., Bradshaw, H. D. & Schemske, D. W. Components of reproductive isolation between the monkeyflowers Mimulus lewisii and M. cardinalis (Phrymaceae). Evolution 57, 1520-1534 (2003).
People
| Labs | Post-Docs | Grad Students |
Announcements
- The next Mimulus Meeting will be held in Fall 2007 at NESCENT in Durham, NC. Contact John Willis for more information.
- The last annual Mimulus Meeting was held Febuary 17-19, 2006 at Duke University.
- JGI should release a 6x coverage assembly of the Mimulus guttatus genome in summer 2007
Papers
Techniques
Seed Collections
Below is an excel spreadsheet that lists the seed collections of Mimulus that are currently located at Duke University. The seed collections are primarily composed of seeds from within the Mimulus guttatus complex. Most of these seeds can be made available for upon request. Please allow a few weeks for orders to be fulfilled. Contact David Lowry at david.lowry@duke.edu for seed requests or information about collection locations.
Mimulus Discussion Page
Check out the Mimulus Discussion Page to see what people in the community are saying and to leave your own messages. Make sure to leave you name and date of entry for all additions.
Mimulus web sites
- Mimulus Biological Resource Center
- Clemson University Genomics Institute website
- Blast the NCBI Trace Archives
- Mimulus guttatus complex
- JGI annoncement of whole genome sequencing
- Mimulus Flora of China
- Biodiversity
