ATOL: Collaborative Research: Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life

0228671 McLaughlin真菌构成了生命的主要谱系之一，包括重要的腐烂生物和人类，植物和动物的病原体。目前已知的真菌约有8万种，但实际上，真菌的多样性估计高达150万种。这个由五位主要研究人员及其全球众多同事组成的合作项目将产生真菌系统发育史的第一个全球综合，这对于扩大我们对地球生命历史以及生态系统起源和适应性特征的了解是必要的，这些特征可能对人类健康产生直接影响。组装真菌生命树（AFTOL项目）将显着提高我们对真菌王国的理解，特别是壶菌，放线菌，子囊菌和担子菌之间尚未解决的古老关系。AFTOL项目将开发大量的分子和非分子（形态、解剖、生活史）特征数据集，这些数据集将通过万维网上不断更新的数据库提供。要获得的分子特征包括从大约1500个物种中取样的7个核基因的DNA序列，这些物种代表了真菌的所有主要类群。待采样的非分子特征包括与细胞核和细胞分裂以及细胞壁生物化学相关的细胞机制。AFTOL项目将在四所大学的五个实验室进行，参与实验室的核心职责如下：大卫希贝特（克拉克大学），来自担子菌门的分子数据收集; Francois Lutzoni（杜克大学），收集子囊菌门的分子数据，包括地衣和生物信息学;大卫麦克劳克林（明尼苏达大学），形态特征的收集和数据库; Joseph Spatafora（俄勒冈州州立大学），收集来自子囊菌门的分子数据;和Rytas Vilgalys（杜克大学），来自壶菌门和接合菌门的分子数据的收集。AFTOL项目将涉及23个国家的国际真菌系统学社区的115名成员，参与项目的所有阶段，从分类群的选择到数据的收集和分析。AFTOL项目的政策是，所有经验证的数据一经生成，即通过网络发布。真菌在生态学中扮演着重要的角色，它们是腐败者、互惠共生体和病原体，包括人类的病原体。真菌的经济意义几乎是不可估量的;它们执行重要的“生态服务”，它们的功能作用是各种应用学科的主题，包括农业，医学和药物发现，仅举几例。真菌的系统发育数据库将有助于为环境调查和其他应用创造强大的诊断和法医工具，并将使许多尚未描述的真菌物种的发现成为可能。培训和推广活动是AFTOL项目的一个重要方面，将采取多种形式，包括研究生和博士后培训，支持访问研究生，本科生培训，高中教师暑期课程，以及K-12教育工作者的网站资源。

0228671McLaughlinFungi make up one of the major lineages of life, and include important decay organisms and pathogens of humans, plants, and animals. There are roughly 80,000 described species of Fungi, but the actual diversity in the group has been estimated to be as high as 1.5 million species. This collaborative project by five major investigators and their numerous colleagues worldwide will generate the first global synthesis of the phylogenetic history of the fungi, which is necessary to expand our knowledge of the history of life on Earth as well as the origin of ecosystems and adaptive features that can have a direct impact on human health. Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life (the AFToL project) will significantly enhance our understanding of the fungal kingdom, especially ancient relationships that are not resolved among the chytrids, zygomycetes, ascomycetes, and basidiomycetes. The AFToL project will develop large data sets of molecular and non-molecular (morphological, anatomical, life-history) characters, which will be accessible via the world-wide web in continuously updated databases. Molecular characters to be acquired include DNA sequences for seven nuclear genes sampled from approximately 1500 species, representing all major groups of Fungi. Nonmolecular characters to be sampled include cellular machinery associated with nuclear and cell division and cell wall biochemistry. The AFToL project will be based in five laboratories at four universities with the core responsibilities of the participating laboratories as follows: David Hibbett (Clark University), collection of molecular data from Basidiomycota; Francois Lutzoni (Duke University), collection of molecular data from Ascomycota including lichens and bioinformatics; David McLaughlin (University of Minnesota), collection and databasing of morphological characters; Joseph Spatafora (Oregon State University), collection of molecular data from Ascomycota; and Rytas Vilgalys (Duke University), collection of molecular data from Chytridiomycota and Zygomycota. The AFToL project will involve more than 115 members of the international fungal systematics community in 23 countries for all stages of the project, from selection of taxa to collection and analyses of data. It will be the policy of the AFToL project that all validated data will be released via the web as soon as they have been generated. Fungi play crucial ecological roles as decayers, mutualistic symbionts, and pathogens, including pathogens of humans. The economic significance of fungi is almost incalculable; they perform vital "ecological services" and their functional roles are the subject of diverse applied disciplines, including agriculture, medicine, and drug discovery, to name just a few. A phylogenetic database for Fungi will facilitate the creation of powerful diagnostic and forensic tools for environmental surveys and other applications, and will enable the discovery of the many fungal species that remain undescribed. Training and outreach activities are an important aspect of the AFToL project and will take several forms including graduate and post-doctoral training, support for visiting graduate students, undergraduate training, summer courses for high school teachers, and website resources for K-12 educators.