Systematics and Evolution of Photobacterium, A Clade of Luminous Bacteria

该项目旨在通过DNA序列分析来描述发光杆菌属细菌成员之间的进化关系。 这些细菌在世界海洋中非常常见，作为良性皮肤或肠道居民定居在海洋动物中，在某些情况下引起疾病，在其他情况下基于细菌的发光与动物形成有益的共生关系。 尽管这组细菌在世界范围内的分布和环境的重要性，什么区分一种发光杆菌与另一种发光杆菌，有多少不同的种类，以及应该使用什么标准来定义发光杆菌物种是尚未解决的问题，这种情况是所有细菌群体共同的，并且阻碍了生物医学，工业和基础科学的许多领域的进步。 为了解决这些问题，遗传上不同种类的发光杆菌，通过DNA指纹鉴定，将从海洋栖息地分离。 从这些细菌中，选择了几个基因，因为它们能够揭示群体成员的进化关系，将进行测序和序列分析，以重建它们的进化历史，并建立DNA序列标准来定义发光杆菌属物种。这个项目将对理解DNA序列差异的性质和程度产生广泛的科学影响，这些差异决定了不同的细菌是否属于不同的细菌。物种 该项目的序列信息将通过公共数据库提供。 该项目为学生参与者提供系统学、微生物生物学和共生领域的培训，这些科学主题和项目的具体成果将纳入密歇根大学微生物生物学本科课程。 更广泛地说，一个为公众设计的可公开访问的网站，K-12教室环境和一般科学界将提供有关发光杆菌的信息，强调其不同成员的自然历史，生态分布和环境活动。

This project seeks to characterize, through DNA sequence analysis, the evolutionary relationships among members of the bacterial genus Photobacterium. These bacteria are very common in the world's oceans, colonizing marine animals as benign skin or intestinal inhabitants, in some cases causing disease, in others forming beneficial symbiotic associations with the animals based on the bacterium's luminescence. Despite the worldwide distribution and environmental importance of this group of bacteria, what distinguishes one kind of Photobacterium from another, how many different kinds there are, and what criteria should be used to define a Photobacterium species are unresolved problems, a situation that is common to all bacterial groups and that impedes progress in many areas of biomedicine, industry, and basic science. To resolve these problems, genetically different kinds of Photobacterium, identified by DNA fingerprinting, will be isolated from marine habitats. From these bacteria, several genes, chosen for their ability to reveal evolutionary relationships for members of the group, will be sequenced and the sequences analyzed to reconstruct their evolutionary history and establish DNA sequence criteria for defining a Photobacterium species.This project will have a wide scientific impact on understanding the nature and extent of the differences in DNA sequence that determine whether different bacteria belong to different species. The sequence information from this project will be made available through public databases. The project provides training to student participants in the areas of systematics, microbial biology and symbiosis, and these scientific themes and specific results from the project will be incorporated into undergraduate courses taught at the University of Michigan in microbial biology. More broadly, a publicly accessible web site designed for the general public, the K-12 classroom environment, and the general science community will make available information from this project on Photobacterium, emphasizing the natural history, ecological distributions, and environmental activities of its different members.