ATOL: Collaborative Research: An Integrated Approach to the Origin and Diversification of Protostomes

伊莱恩·西弗博士和马克·Q博士获得了赠款。夏威夷大学的Martindale研究了生命之树的原口类分支的关键代表的发展的基本特征。在现存的170万种生物中，前列腺口动物占100多万种，包括熟悉的动物，如软体动物、昆虫、扁形虫、蛔虫和许多其他具有医学和经济重要性的动物。然而，这些群体之间的关系仍然存在很大的争议，因此动物生命树的主干目前无法在没有很大程度的不确定性的情况下提出。该提案将尽可能广泛地收集和传播关于选定的具有代表性的原口动物的信息，以解决它们在5.4亿多年来的起源和进化问题。为了做到这一点，我们将整合现存和灭绝动物的解剖数据与发展数据，使用细胞谱系研究和广泛的基因组信息。将收集大量原口类物种的这些数据，这些数据将在非模式生物中以前所未有的水平进行研究。所授予的赠款将有助于培训不同学术水平的学生，重点是那些在科学方面代表性不足的群体。研究结果将通过与世界上五个最著名的自然历史博物馆的合作向社会传播，包括美国的哈佛自然历史博物馆和美国自然历史博物馆，以及澳大利亚和丹麦最重要的博物馆。PI还打算在非专业科学杂志上发表一篇文章，供广大的外行读者阅读。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. Elaine Seaver and Mark Q. Martindale of the University of Hawaii to investigate fundamental features of the development of pivotal representatives from the protostome branch of the tree of life. Prostostomes constitute more than one million of the 1.7 million extant described species of organisms, including familiar animals such as mollusks, insects, flatworms, roundworms, and many others of medical and economic importance. However, relationships among these groups are still highly debated, so the backbone of the animal tree of life cannot currently be proposed without a large degree of uncertainty. This proposal will integrate and disseminate the broadest possible collection of information on selected representative protostomes to address questions of their origin and evolution over more than 540 million years. In order to do this we will integrate anatomical data on extant and extinct fauna with developmental data using cell-lineage studies and broad-based genomic information. These data will be collected for a large pool of protostome species which will be studied at a level never before attempted in non-model organisms. The awarded grant will contribute to the training of students at different academic levels, emphasizing on those of underrepresented groups in science. Results will be disseminated to society through partnership with five of the most prominent natural history museums in the world, including the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History in the USA, and the most important museums in Australia and Denmark. It is also the intention of the PI to publish an article in non-specialist scientific magazines for a broad lay audience.