Systematics as a cornerstone of parasitology: overview and preface.
Systematics as a cornerstone of parasitology: overview and preface.
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系统学作为寄生虫学的基石：概述和前言。
DOI：
10.1017/s0031182011001533
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Littlewood DT
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Littlewood DT
系统学是一门丰富的科学学科，用它来描述、命名和列举生物多样性的组成部分，并用它来描述它们的关系。套用一位同事的话说，这个领域包含三个简单的问题：它是什么，它来自哪里，它是如何相关的？无论是单独的，还是共同的，这些问题都可以适用于任何生物实体。在系统学领域，它们依次被分类学、生物地理学和系统发育学所涵盖。从历史上看，最常见的是被选为这些研究重点的元素是物种。进化过程作用于生命中所有经过自然选择的可遗传成分。因此，这三个问题在处理基因、其产物或其他分子单位(如microRNAs)时同样相关。通过从进化论的角度解决这些问题，系统学提供了一个在空间和时间上观察生命的框架，并提供了一个不断扩展的工具集来测试解释模式和揭示潜在过程的假说。寄生虫学家必须根据它们与宿主(包括媒介、中间宿主、宿主、副宿主和最终宿主)的相互作用来考虑他们的生物体；这使他们的工作有别于许多其他生物学家的工作，因为他们需要从整体上看待动物，将其作为与其他有机体相互作用的环境的组成部分。由于很少有生物逃脱寄生(Poulin，2011a)，这些亲密相互作用的性质在自然史上值得相当关注，而不仅仅是寄生虫学家。同时，对于寄生虫学家来说，从系统学的角度看待寄主和寄生虫所获得的机会，提供了对寄生虫本质的更深层次的洞察。寄生虫学家一直站在解决这些问题的前沿，它是什么，它来自哪里(或在谁体内？如Combes，2001所述)，因为对这些问题的回答是评估多样性的基础，当然还有寄生虫和病媒控制。许多数百万美元的投资建立在检测和瞄准各种地理范围的正确种类的寄生虫或媒介上，以控制疾病。了解两者之间的关系的重要性可能并不总是那么明显或容易处理。事实上，如果一种关系密切的寄生虫或寄主物种不是问题，我们为什么还要费心去进一步了解它？从更广泛的角度来看，了解一种寄生虫或宿主的进化史是如何告诉我们的？只有当我们发现我们错过了一个水库宿主，或者开发了一个控制程序，或者应用了一种基于与我们希望控制的寄生虫截然不同的模型系统的治疗方法时，答案才变得显而易见。当我们能够充分利用它的力量来揭示、解释和预测生物模式时，系统学就成为寄生虫学中一个非常重要的主题，而不仅仅是一个起点。以系统学为基础的进化方法的全部影响，只有通过对基因和基因组的追求，才能对大多数寄生虫学家来说变得明显和容易处理。分子生物学为了解物种和物种形成、相互关系和系统发育提供了额外的(或独立的)特征，也为了解寄生虫的发育、表型的性质以及寄生虫不仅不被宿主防御系统察觉或不受影响，而且能够操纵宿主生物学的非凡能力提供了生化基础。为了从比较生物学方法中获得完全的洞察，系统学的镜头促进了焦点和清晰度，而不管生物系统或规模(分类、时间或空间)。可以说，系统学是…的基石
Systematics is a rich scientific discipline by which the components of biodiversity are described, named and enumerated, and by which their relationships are described. To paraphrase a colleague, the field encompasses three simple questions: what is it, where does it come from and how is it related? Individually, and together, these questions may be applied to any biological entity. In the realm of systematics they are covered in turn by taxonomy, biogeography and phylogenetics. Historically and most commonly, the element chosen as the focus for these studies is the species. Evolutionary processes act on all heritable components of life that undergo natural selection. Thus, these three questions are just as pertinent when working with genes, their products, or other molecular units (eg microRNAs). By addressing these questions in light of evolution, systematics offers a framework to view life in space and time, and provides an ever-expanding tool-set to test hypotheses that explain patterns and reveal underlying processes. Parasitologists necessarily consider their organisms in light of their interactions with hosts (including vectors, intermediate, reservoir, paratenic and final hosts); this differentiates their work from that of many other biologists as they need to view animals holistically, as integral parts of their environment interacting with other organisms. Since few organisms escape parasitism (Poulin, 2011 a), the nature of these intimate interactions is worthy of considerable attention in natural history, not just by parasitologists. Meanwhile, for parasitologists, the opportunities gained from viewing both hosts and parasites in the light of systematics, provides deeper insights into the nature of parasitism. Parasitologists have been at the forefront of addressing the questions what is it and where does it come from (or who in whom? as phrased by Combes, 2001), because answers to these questions are the basis for diversity assessment, and of course parasite and vector control. Many multi-million dollar investments are founded on detecting and targeting the right species of parasite or vector, over various geographic scales, in a bid to control disease. The importance of understanding how is it related may not always have been so obvious, or tractable. Indeed, if a closely related parasite or host species is not a problem, why should we bother understand it further? From a wider perspective, how does knowing a parasite or host’s evolutionary history inform us? The answers only become obvious when we find we have missed a reservoir host, or developed a control programme or applied a therapy based on a model system so vastly different from the parasite we wish to control that it is worthless. When we can harness its powers to reveal, explain and predict biological patterns fully, systematics becomes an allimportant theme in parasitology, and not just a starting point.The full influence of an evolutionary approach, underpinned by systematics, has only become apparent and tractable to most parasitologists through the pursuit of genes and genomes. Molecular biology has provided additional (or independent) characters for understanding species and speciation, interrelationships and phylogenetics, as well as a biochemical basis for understanding the nature of development, phenotype and the remarkable abilities of parasites to be not only unnoticed or unaffected by host defences, but to manipulate the biology of their hosts. To gain complete insight from a comparative biological approach, the lens of systematics facilitates focus and clarity, regardless of biological system or scale (taxonomic, temporal or spatial). Arguably, systematics is the cornerstone of …