ATOL: Collaborative Research: Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life

0228725Spatafora真菌构成了生命的主要谱系之一，包括人类、植物和动物的重要腐烂生物和病原体。描述的真菌种类大约有 80,000 种，但该类群的实际多样性估计高达 150 万种。这个由五位主要研究人员和他们在世界各地的众多同事共同完成的合作项目将首次对真菌的系统发育历史进行全球综合，这对于扩大我们对地球生命历史以及对人类健康产生直接影响的生态系统起源和适应性特征的了解是必要的。组装真菌生命之树（AFToL 项目）将显着增强我们对真菌王国的理解，特别是壶菌、接合菌、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（形态学、解剖学、生活史）特征的大型数据集，这些数据集可以通过万维网不断更新的数据库进行访问。待获取的分子特征包括从代表所有主要真菌类群的约 1500 个物种中采样的 7 个核基因的 DNA 序列。待采样的非分子特征包括与核和细胞分裂以及细胞壁生物化学相关的细胞机制。 AFToL 项目将设在四所大学的五个实验室，参与实验室的核心职责如下： David Hibbett（克拉克大学），收集担子菌门的分子数据； Francois Lutzoni（杜克大学），子囊菌分子数据收集，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），子囊菌门分子数据收集；和 Rytas Vilgalys（杜克大学），收集了壶菌门和接合菌门的分子数据。 AFToL 项目将涉及 23 个国家的国际真菌系统学界的超过 115 名成员，参与项目的所有阶段，从分类单元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在生成后将立即通过网络发布。真菌作为腐烂者、共生体和病原体（包括人类病原体）发挥着至关重要的生态作用。真菌的经济意义几乎无法估量；它们提供重要的“生态服务”，其功能作用是多种应用学科的主题，包括农业、医学和药物发现等。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建强大的诊断和法医工具，并将有助于发现许多尚未描述的真菌物种。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、对访问研究生的支持、本科生培训、针对高中教师的暑期课程以及针对 K-12 教育工作者的网站资源。

0228725SpataforaFungi 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.