45S rRNA基因是真核生物最重要的管家基因之一，拷贝间被认为通过一致进化保持高度一致，它的一些片段作为分子标记被系统学家广泛应用。然而，申请者前期研究发现众多山茶属植物的基因组内存在大量45S rRNA假基因，其拷贝是如此之多、起源又十分古老且还可能转录，这与现有的进化理论相矛盾也不能用杂交和多倍化来解释，推测这些假基因可能有新功能和进化模式，但有待验证。本项目以不同倍性的3个山茶属植物为材料，用原位杂交确定45SrRNA基因的位点，用高通量测序平台测定这些假基因的片段和检测假基因的转录水平，并用RNA-蛋白质互作平台检测rRNA假基因产物可能的结合蛋白；整合rRNA基因的序列数据集、空间结构信息及转录式样，确定45S rRNA假基因是否具有功能，揭示其在山茶属植物基因组内的多态性、进化样式及动力，从而更深入地认识rDNA在生命活动中的功能及基本生命活动过程。

The 45S rDNA repeats are essential housekeeping genes found in all eukaryotic organisms, their structure and particular evolutionary patter have been widely and well known, and some fragments of them have been utilized by many systematic botanists as the molecular makers to reconstruct the phylogenies of many taxa. However, in our previous works, we found many 45S rRNA pseudogenes in the genome of Camellia species, and these pseudogenes have over 1000 copies and a remarkably long evolutionary history and some of them may be transcribed. These findings are contradictory to our present understanding of rDNA evolution and also can not be explained by hybridization and polyploidization. Thus, we have proposed a hypothesis: rRNA pseudogenes have a new unknown function and a particular evolutionary pattern. In this project, we will select three camellia species with different ploids (2x, 4x, 6x) as materials to identify their 45S rDNA loci using the FISH, to amplify biasedly some fragments of 45S rDNA pseudogenes, and to sequence these fragments using the Miseq Platform. Also we will test which of the pseudogenes can transcribe using the RNA-seq and which of rRNA from the pseudogenes can interact with proteins by the CLIP-Miseq. The aim is to test whether rRNA pseudogenes have a new function and to reveal the evolutionary dynamics of the 45S rDNA pseudoenges in Camellia species, which will improve the understanding of the role of rDNA in living organisms.