RCN: Beyond "Deep Green": Toward an Integration of Plant Phylogenetics and Plant Genomics

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DEB-0090227Brent MishlerAn award has been made to Dr. Brent Mishler of the University of California at Berkely to direct a research coordination network of plant phylogeneticists and genomicists to develop integrated research activities between these two botanical disciplines over the next 5 years. The green plants represent one of the biggest branches of the tree of life -- more than 1/2 million species -- a clade at least 1 billion years old. Their morphological and chemical diversity, ecological dominance, and importance in human affairs (for food, shelter and medicine) are paramount among life's lineages. A recently improved understanding of their phylogeny (evolutionary history) generated from the efforts of the "Deep Green" collaboration not only allows the intellectual satisfaction of discovering the "roots" of this major component of the world's biotic diversity, but also has important practical benefits as well. Likewise, the recently completed Arabidopsis genome, and similar ongoing genomic studies of diverse crop plants provide an unprecedented opportunity for comparative genomics to identify, isolate, and determine the function of plant genes that are associated with both vegetative and reproductive phenotypes. These two areas of research have so far proceeded entirely separately, but are poised for a synthesis. Both groups of researchers would benefit greatly from increased communication and collaboration. The goal of this project is to establish a new research coordination network to explore the ways in which comparative phylogenetic studies can inform genomic studies, and vice-versa. The group proposes a series of professional meetings, workshops, training activities for K-12 teachers, undergraduates, and graduate students, and a web site that will contain information for professional scientists as well as educational materials for the general public. The project will result in a newly well-coordinated, cohesive scientific community that will be able to use this phylogenetic and genomic information for such new applications as predicting the evolution of biochemical pathways, identifying gene duplications and promoter evolution contributing to morphological changes, predicting useful chemicals for pharmacology, selecting promising genes for biotechnology studies, and carrying out comparative functional and genomic studies. The fruits of such collaboration could include: new tools for assessing plant relationships, new comparative approaches to functional questions combining data from phylogeny and genomics, and enhanced training of scientists at all levels.