Collaborative Research: Reconstructing the Early Evolution of the Bees and the History of Bee/Angiosperm Relationships

康奈尔大学的布莱恩·N·丹福斯博士和南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校的塞多尼亚·D·西佩斯博士获得了一项资助，以研究蜜蜂之间的系统关系，以及蜜蜂和开花植物之间的相互作用的历史。蜜蜂是一大群昆虫(约20,000种)，其历史与开花植物的历史交织在一起。今天，蜜蜂是世界上许多粮食作物最重要的传粉者。此外，许多野生植物依靠蜜蜂传粉者繁殖；因此，蜜蜂在维持植物生物多样性方面发挥着重要作用。然而，人们对最早的蜜蜂或它们可能授粉的早期开花植物知之甚少，因为所有已知的蜜蜂化石要么年龄相对较新，要么是高度发达的物种，而不是原始物种。此外，仅从蜜蜂的形态研究来看，这七个蜂科之间的关系并不清楚。丹福斯和西佩斯建议1)利用来自三个基因的DNA序列结合形态数据，重建蜜蜂之间的关系，重点放在最原始的分类群(短舌蜜蜂)上。此外，研究人员将以基于模型的方法使用DNA数据来估计蜜蜂历史上关键事件的日期，并将这些日期与化石记录中记录的被子植物历史联系起来。这个项目将扩大我们对开花植物(蜜蜂)最重要的传粉者的关系和分类的理解，并将对作物授粉、生物多样性和保护产生影响。该项目将为SIUC和康奈尔大学的本科生和研究生提供教育和研究培训机会。参与该项目的学生将获得基础分子生物学方面的广泛应用经验，以及昆虫系统学和授粉生态学特定领域的培训。此外，该奖项还将为康奈尔大学的博士后研究员提供专业水平的培训。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Bryan N. Danforth of Cornell University and Dr. Sedonia D. Sipes of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to investigate the systematic relationships among bees, and the history of interactions between bees and flowering plants. Bees are a large group of insects ( ~20,000 species) whose history is intertwined with that of flowering plants. Today, bees are the most important pollinators of many of the world's food crops. Additionally, many wild plants depend upon bee pollinators for reproduction; thus bees play an important role in maintaining plant biodiversity. Yet, little is known about the earliest bees, or about the early flowering plants they may have pollinated, because all known bee fossils are either relatively recent in age, or are of highly advanced rather than primitive species. Moreover, the relationships among the seven families of bees are unclear from the study of their morphology alone. Danforth and Sipes propose to 1) reconstruct the relationships among the bees, with emphasis on the most primitive taxa (the "short-tongued" bees), using DNA sequences from three genes combined with morphological data. Additionally the investigators will use the DNA data in a model-based approach to estimate dates of key events in the history of the bees, and relate these dates to angiosperm history as recorded in the fossil record. This project will expand our understanding of the relationships and classification of the most important pollinators of flowering plants (bees), and will have implications for crop pollination, biodiversity, and conservation. This project will provide educational and research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at both SIUC and Cornell University. Students involved with the project will gain broadly applicable experience in basic molecular biology as well as training in the specific fields of insect systematics and pollination ecology. Additionally, the award will provide professional-level training for a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell.