BIOCOMPLEXITY--INCUBATION ACTIVITY: Genome Evolution and Macroevolutionary Diversification in Green Plants

帕梅拉S.索尔蒂斯博士。华盛顿州立大学的Pamela S. Soltis和Douglas E. Soltis通过生物复杂性孵化活动计划（Biocomplexity Incubation Activity Program）获得了一笔赠款，用于协调科学讨论，并就植物基因组多样化的复杂性提出未来的研究建议。这些绿色植物是生命之树上最大的分支之一，有50多万种。植物核基因组在大小、组织和结构上差异巨大，是近10亿年进化史的产物。植物系统发育研究的最新突破，以及基因和基因组研究的新进展，正在整合在一起，以检查基因组在漫长的进化时间中的多样性和复杂性。本孵化活动的主要目标是促进跨学科研究，以促进植物基因组学和植物进化生物学的新合成。基因组倍增是地球上大多数植物多样性的产生过程，包括大多数农作物的起源和18种“世界上最糟糕的杂草”中的17种，显然导致了复杂的基因组相互作用，最终可能导致新的染色体和基因排列以及新的基因表达模式。Soltis和Soltis汇集了一批在植物系统发育、基因和基因组进化分析、基因组进化机制、计算和生物信息学方面具有广泛专业知识的核心研究人员。该小组将(1)探索基因组加倍在植物多样化中的作用；(2)研究基因组加倍后基因组进化的模式和机制。该小组预计将在两年的资助期内发表多作者原创研究成果，发布初步软件，并制定全面的生物复杂性研究计划。

DEB-0083659Pamela S. SoltisDrs. Pamela S. Soltis and Douglas E. Soltis of Washington State University were awarded, through the Biocomplexity Incubation Activity Program, a grant to coordinate scientific discussions and propose future research into the complexity of genome diversification in plants. The green plants represent one of the largest branches on the Tree of Life, with more than 1/2 million species. Plant nuclear genomes, which vary tremendously in size, organization, and structure, are the products of nearly a billion years of evolutionary history. Recent breakthroughs in the study of plant phylogeny, as well as new developments in the study of genes and genomes, are being integrated to examine genome diversification and complexity over vast evolutionary time. The primary goal of this Incubation Activity is to foster interdisciplinary research to facilitate a new synthesis of plant genomics and plant evolutionary biology. Genome doubling, a process that has been responsible for generating the majority of plant diversity on Earth, including the origins of most crop plants and 17 of the 18 "world's worst weeds", apparently leads to complex genomic interactions that may ultimately be responsible for new chromosomal and gene arrangements and novel patterns of gene expression. Soltis and Soltis have assembled a core of researchers with extensive expertise in plant phylogeny, analysis of gene and genome evolution, mechanisms of genome evolution, computation, and bioinformatics. This group will (1) explore the role of genome doubling in the diversification of plants and (2) investigate the patterns and mechanisms of genome evolution following genome doubling. The group anticipates publication of multi-authored original research contributions, initial software releases, and development of a full-scale Biocomplexity Research Proposal during the two-year funding period of this grant.