CAA: Molecular Taxonomy of the Clownfish Sea Anemones

在职业发展奖中，Fautin博士将学习分子遗传学的现代方法，包括在堪萨斯大学Deborah Smith博士的实验室中对线粒体DNA和核苷酸测序进行限制性内切酶分析。这项工作的重点是选定的海葵，包括那些与小丑鱼共生和一些港口藻类内部的繁殖和分类。线粒体DNA突变之间的几个物种的海葵将进行比较，并用于重建这些海洋动物之间的系统发育关系。分子数据将与用于区分海葵种属的传统形态特征相结合。一个长期的目标是比较海葵的物种分化的模式，为它们的共生鱼类协会，一方面，并与相关的共生藻类的另一方面，以探索共同进化的变化机制。共生是生物学上具有挑战性的现象，包括海葵与其内部（藻类）和外部伙伴（小丑鱼或海葵鱼）之间的共生。Fautin博士在职业发展奖中为海葵的传统形态学知识增加了新的分子数据（DNA突变），以改善这些海洋生物的分类，并探索全球几个属之间的系统发育关系模式。一个强大的海葵的进化史将允许研究与这些迷人的生物有关的藻类和鱼类之间的共同进化分歧模式。

In a career advancement award Dr. Fautin will learn modern methods of molecular phylogenetics, including restriction endonuclease analyses of mitochondrial DNA and nucleotide sequencing in the laboratory of Dr. Deborah Smith at the University of Kansas. The focus of the work is on the phylogeny and taxonomy of selected sea anemones, including those that are symbiotic with clownfishes and some that harbor algae internally. Mitochondrial DNA mutations among the several species of sea anemones will be compared and used for the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships among these marine animals. Molecular data will be integrated with traditional morphological characters used to distinguish species and genera of anemones. One long term goal is to compare the pattern of species divergences in sea anemones with that for their symbiotic fish associates, on the one hand, and with the associated symbiotic algae on the other, in order to explore mechanisms of coevolutionary change. %%% Symbioses are biologically challenging phenomena, including those between sea anemones and their internal (algae) and external associates (clownfishes or anemonefishes). Dr. Fautin in a career advancement award is adding new molecular data (DNA mutations) to traditional morphological knowledge of sea anemones in order to improve the taxonomy of these marine organisms and to explore patterns of phylogenetic relationship among the several genera worldwide. A robust phylogeny for the sea anemones will then permit study of the pattern of coevolutionary divergence among the algae and fishes associated with these fascinating creatures.