ATOL: Collaborative Research: Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life

真菌是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。目前已描述的真菌种类约有8万种，但该类群中的实际多样性估计高达150万种。这项由全球五名主要研究人员及其众多同事合作的项目将首次在全球范围内合成真菌的系统发育历史，这对于扩大我们对地球生命历史以及可能对人类健康产生直接影响的生态系统和适应性特征的起源的知识是必要的。组装真菌生命树(AFToL项目)将极大地增强我们对真菌王国的了解，特别是在合菌、子囊菌和担子菌之间尚未解决的古老关系。AFToL项目将开发分子和非分子(形态、解剖学、生命史)特征的大型数据集，可通过万维网在不断更新的数据库中进行访问。将获得的分子特征包括从大约1500个物种中采样的七个核基因的DNA序列，代表所有主要的真菌类群。要取样的非分子特征包括与核和细胞分裂相关的细胞机制以及细胞壁生物化学。AFToL项目将设在四所大学的五个实验室，参与实验室的核心责任如下：David Hibbett(克拉克大学)，收集担子菌门的分子数据；Francois Lutzoni(杜克大学)，收集子囊菌的分子数据，包括地衣和生物信息学；David McLaughlin(明尼苏达大学)，形态特征的收集和数据库；Joseph Spatafora(俄勒冈州立大学)，收集子囊菌的分子数据；和Rytas Vilgalys(杜克大学)，收集合并孢菌门和酵母菌的分子数据。AFToL项目将有23个国家的115多名国际真菌系统学社区成员参与该项目的所有阶段，从分类群的选择到数据的收集和分析。AFToL项目的政策是，所有经过验证的数据一旦产生，就将通过网络发布。真菌作为衰落物、互惠共生体和病原体，包括人类的病原体，在生态上起着至关重要的作用。真菌的经济意义几乎是不可估量的；它们履行着至关重要的“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、医学和药物开发，仅举几例。真菌系统发育数据库将有助于为环境调查和其他应用创建强大的诊断和法医工具，并将使许多仍未描述的真菌物种的发现成为可能。培训和外联活动是AFToL项目的一个重要方面，将采取几种形式，包括研究生和博士后培训、对来访研究生的支持、本科培训、高中教师暑期课程以及为K-12教育工作者提供的网站资源。

0228657HibbettFungi 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.