PEET: Monographic and Phylogenetic Research on the Saprolegniales (watermolds)

PEET：水霉目（水霉菌）的专题和系统发育研究

• 批准号: 0328316
• 负责人: Jeffrey Bailey
• 金额: $ 74.22万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Wilmington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0328316&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PEET; Monographic; Phylogenetic; Research; Saprolegniales

Filamentous microbes belonging to the order Saprolegniales (watermolds) are important environmentally and economically for a great variety of reasons, but the study of these important organisms has been hampered for over 200 years because of the extreme difficulty involved in their identification. This fact probably more than any other has obscured understanding not only of how to control those species that cause devastating plant and animal diseases, but also of the significant environmental benefit that still other species provide. Watermold identification (a component of their systematic biology) historically has been difficult because morphological features used to characterize them overlap significantly between species to the extent that one speciesusually cannot be distinguished from its close neighbors. It is now recognized, however, that modern DNA technology and gene sequencing techniques offers a much-needed tool for helping to resolve the boundaries between species thus enabling accurate and fast identification. The research program in this Partnership for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) project will employ gene sequencing techniques to define the boundaries between watermold species more precisely and in so doing will revise the systematics of this group such that environmental and economic investigations of watermolds will be made much easier. All products of this research will be freely and openly accessible to the world scientific community on the world-wide-web. Owing to the extreme difficulty of identifying watermolds, young scientists have avoided investigating them, such that there now is a worldwide critical shortage of watermold systematists. A principal objective of the current project is to begin the training of the next generation of watermold systematists using modern techniques that not only will clarify watermold systematics, but also will provide the foundation for answering important "applied" questions about their significance to society and the environment. The investigators have partnered with the Science and Mathematics Education Center of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to develop an educational outreach program to public schools in southeastern North Carolina tobetter inform the public of the importance of this group and to encourage school-age children to understand the significance, beauty, and excitement not only of watermolds, but also of science in general.

丝状微生物属于腐殖目(水霉)，由于各种原因在环境和经济上具有重要意义，但由于其鉴定极其困难，200多年来对这些重要微生物的研究一直受到阻碍。这一事实可能比其他任何事实都更模糊了人们对如何控制那些导致毁灭性动植物疾病的物种的理解，也掩盖了对其他物种提供的重大环境效益的理解。水霉鉴定(水霉系统生物学的一个组成部分)历史上一直很困难，因为用于描述它们的形态特征在物种之间重叠很大，以至于一个物种通常无法与其近邻区分开来。然而，现在人们认识到，现代DNA技术和基因测序技术为帮助解决物种之间的边界提供了亟需的工具，从而使准确和快速的识别成为可能。在这个加强分类学专业知识的伙伴关系(PEET)项目中的研究计划将使用基因测序技术来更准确地定义水霉物种之间的边界，这样做将修改这一组的系统学，从而使对水霉的环境和经济调查变得更加容易。这项研究的所有成果将在万维网上向世界科学界免费开放。由于识别水霉极其困难，年轻的科学家一直避免对它们进行研究，以至于现在全世界严重缺乏水模系统学家。目前项目的一个主要目标是利用现代技术开始培训下一代水模系统学家，这些技术不仅将澄清水模系统学，而且将为回答有关其对社会和环境的意义的重要“实用”问题奠定基础。研究人员与北卡罗来纳大学威尔明顿分校的科学和数学教育中心合作，为北卡罗来纳州东南部的公立学校制定了一个教育推广计划，以更好地让公众了解这一群体的重要性，并鼓励学龄儿童不仅了解水模的重要性、美丽和兴奋，而且了解整个科学的重要性。