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

帕梅拉·S·索尔蒂斯博士。华盛顿州立大学的帕梅拉·S·索尔蒂斯和道格拉斯·E·索尔蒂斯通过生物复杂性孵化活动计划获得了一笔赠款，用于协调科学讨论并提出未来对植物基因组多样化复杂性的研究。这些绿色植物是生命树上最大的树枝之一，有超过150万种植物。植物核基因组是近十亿年进化史的产物，在大小、组织和结构上都有很大差异。最近在植物系统发育研究方面的突破，以及在基因和基因组研究方面的新进展，正在被整合起来，以检查基因组在巨大进化时间内的多样性和复杂性。这项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。基因组加倍是导致地球上大多数植物多样性产生的一个过程，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，显然会导致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。索尔蒂斯和索尔蒂斯组建了一支核心研究人员，他们在植物系统发育、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拥有广泛的专业知识。这个小组将(1)探索基因组加倍在植物多样性中的作用，以及(2)研究基因组加倍后基因组进化的模式和机制。该小组预计将在这笔赠款的两年资助期内发表多篇原创研究成果、最初的软件版本，并开发一份全面的生物复杂性研究提案。

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.