U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Evolution of Evolutionary Rates: A Genomic Perspective

9909348索恩该奖项支持罗利的北卡罗来纳州州立大学的杰弗里·索恩教授和日本东京大学的岸野裕久教授之间为期三年的合作研究项目。 研究人员将进行一项关于进化速率演变的研究：基因组视角。 估计DNA和蛋白质序列的共同祖先的时间（即分歧时间）通常通过假设所有进化谱系以相同的速率变化来实现。 事实上，亲缘关系近的进化谱系比亲缘关系远的谱系更有可能经历相似的进化速率。 研究人员正在开发统计方法来估计分歧时间，这些方法缺乏限制性和难以置信的假设，即进化速率随时间推移而保持不变。 未来的发展方向将包括将化石信息纳入该方法，并将其扩展到包含多个基因信息的数据集。 其他计划包括对拟议的和现有的方法进行模拟研究，并对有关发散时间和其他模型参数的先验信息进行仔细的统计处理，该项目汇集了两个具有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。研究结果将在进化生物学（估计物种分歧时间）以及流行病学方面有重要的应用。 例如，它将有助于估计不同病原体菌株出现的时间。 本研究通过研究生的参与促进国际人力资源。 通过交流思想和技术，该项目将扩大我们的基础知识，促进国际理解与合作。 将在http://statgen.ncsu.edu/thorne/divtime.html上建立一个网页。 本页将简要介绍该项目支持的方法以及下载最终软件的方向。

9909348ThorneThis award supports a three year collaborative research project between Professor Jeffrey Thorne of North Carolina State University in Raleigh and Professor Hirohisa Kishino of the University of Tokyo in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of the evolution of evolutionary rates: a genomic perspective. Estimating times since common ancestry of DNA and protein sequences (i.e. divergence times) is typically accomplished by assuming that all evolutionary lineages change at identical rates. In reality, closely-related evolutionary lineages are more likely to experience similar rates of evolution than distantly related lineages. The researchers are developing statistical methods for estimating divergence times that lack the restrictive and implausible assumption that rates of evolution have been constant over time. Future directions will include incorporation of fossil information into the method and its extension to data sets containing information from multiple genes. Other plans include simulation studies of proposed and existing methods and a careful statistical treatment of prior information regarding divergence times and other model parameters.The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. Results of the research will have important applications in evolutionary biology (estimating species divergence times) as well as in epidemiology. For example, it will help in estimating the times at which different strains of a pathogen arose. This research advances international human resources through the participation of graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. A web page will be constructed at http://statgen.ncsu.edu/thorne/divtime.html. This page will have a brief description of the methodology being supported by this project as well as directions for downloading the resulting software.