Species Recognition and Reproductive Isolation in Fungi: Neurospora, an Evolutionary Model

DEB-0316710“真菌中的物种识别和生殖隔离：脉孢菌属一种进化模型“加州大学伯克利分校的约翰·W·泰勒博士获得了一笔赠款，以识别真菌脉孢菌属中物种的限制。 泰勒和他的同事们将通过DNA变异的进化分析来识别遗传隔离的物种，并将通过交配成功来识别生殖隔离的物种。 利用这两种方法，发现了三个新的物种在N。crassa分支的远系繁殖脉孢菌属物种和本基金将重点放在这三个新的物种，以及应用的两种方法识别物种的N。属的离散分支。 结论是，这项研究应该提供必要的基础知识，使脉孢菌在进化生物学中像果蝇或大肠杆菌一样有用。这项研究是重要的，因为它提供了最全面的比较，在任何生物体的两个生物学上重要的方法，识别物种，遗传隔离和生殖隔离。 对于真菌来说，这是双重重要的，因为在大多数真菌中不能评估繁殖成功，但遗传隔离可以。 识别物种对所有比较生物学都是必不可少的，在真菌中，对于疫苗设计、室内空气质量和外来真菌的不必要引入（无论是生物错误还是生物恐怖）等领域都具有根本的实际重要性。 这项资助的结果使比较生物学成为可能，生物学家可以利用新发现的N。discreta发现整个北美，和新测序的N. crassa和N.离散，了解基因及其活动的变化如何使生物体适应当地环境。 这项资助支持的研究将提供脉孢菌进化史的路线图，这张地图将让生物学家了解这条路是如何建成的。

DEB-0316710"Species recognition and reproductive isolation in fungi: Neurospora an evolutionary model"A grant has been awarded to Dr. John W Taylor of University of California at Berkeley to recognize the limits of species in the fungus Neurospora. Taylor and colleagues will recognize species that are genetically isolated using evolutionary analysis of DNA variation and will recognize species that are reproductively isolated using mating success. Use of the two approaches has discovered three new species in the N. crassa branch of the outbreeding Neurospora species and this grant will focus on these three new species, as well as the application of the two methods of recognizing species to the N. discreta branch of the genus. When concluded, this research should provide the fundamental knowledge needed to make Neurospora as useful to evolutionary biology as has been Drosophila or E. coli.This research is important because it is providing the most comprehensive comparison in any organism of the two biologically important methods of recognizing species, genetic isolation and reproductive isolation. For fungi, it is doubly important because reproductive success cannot be assessed in most fungi, but genetic isolation can. Recognizing species is essential to all comparative biology and, in fungi, is of fundamental practical importance to fields as diverse as vaccine design, indoor air quality and the unwanted introduction of exotic fungi - either by bioerror or bioterror. The comparative biology made possible by the results of this grant will allow biologists to use the newly discovered populations of N. discreta found throughout North America, and the newly sequenced genomes of N. crassa and N. discreta, to learn how changes in genes and their activity allow organisms to adapt to local environment. The research supported by this grant will provide the roadmap of the evolutionary history of Neurospora, and this map will allow biologists to learn how the road was built.