Although I missed one day of chalk talks, the ones I did see were super interesting and impressive. I particularly enjoyed Lola’s chalk talk about morning glories. It’s a field that’s incredibly different from my own and I think that’s why it caught my attention so much.
Lola talked about a few points from her project and I learned a lot of new information during an 8 minute period. First of all, I had no idea what introgression was, so it was highly appreciated when she gave a quick definition. What I picked up is that in the wild introgression is rare, but it is a process that can occur in morning glories. Lola talked specifically about when there are pink and white flowers that are growing at the same place and time there are more white flowers. It was suggested that pink flowers aren’t good dads because their genes aren’t favorable to be fathers. Keeping all this in mind, she posed the question of if these offspring are recombinant, and that’s what she and her lab are testing right now.
I thought it was cool to listen to Lola’s talk about her morning glories and it will be nice to hear what the answer to her research question is.
