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

9909348Thorne该奖项支持罗利北卡罗来纳州立大学的Jeffrey Thorne教授和日本东京大学的Hirohisa Kishino教授之间为期三年的合作研究项目。研究人员将从基因组的角度对进化率的进化进行研究。估计自DNA和蛋白质序列的共同祖先以来的时间(即分歧时间)通常是通过假设所有进化谱系以相同的速率变化来完成的。事实上，亲缘关系密切的进化谱系比亲缘关系较远的谱系更有可能经历相似的进化速度。研究人员正在开发用于估计分歧时间的统计方法，这些方法缺乏进化速度随时间保持不变的限制性和令人难以置信的假设。未来的方向将包括将化石信息纳入该方法，并将其扩展到包含来自多个基因的信息的数据集。其他计划包括对建议和现有方法的模拟研究，以及对有关分歧时间和其他模型参数的先前信息进行仔细的统计处理。该项目汇集了两个拥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(估计物种分化时间)以及流行病学中有重要的应用。例如，它将有助于估计不同菌株的病原体出现的时间。这项研究通过研究生的参与促进了国际人力资源的发展。通过思想和技术的交流，这个项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际理解与合作。将在http://statgen.ncsu.edu/thorne/divtime.html.上创建一个网页此页将简要说明该项目所支持的方法以及下载所产生的软件的说明。

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.