PEET: A Monographic Study of Cordyceps and Related Fungi

虫草是一种真菌属，包括500多种，是昆虫和真菌的病原体。本研究将对该属进行专题研究，为物种识别和圈定提供更准确的依据。它将涉及广泛的实地标本收集，并将提高我们对它们在自然界分布的认识。将从这些生物中收集分子和形态数据，并对其进行分析，以检验目前仅基于形态的物种假设。冬虫夏草在东亚和北美东部尤其丰富，因此该项目将包括与亚洲科学家的合作。这项研究将在真菌分类学方面培养学生和博士后研究人员，真菌是一个尚未得到充分研究的生物群体，需要额外的专业知识和研究人员。该项目还包含一个广泛的万维网组成部分，通过互联网向公众免费提供有关所有种类虫草的信息。许多种类的冬虫夏草在农业和医学上都很重要。冬虫夏草是多种昆虫的致病菌，是生物防治害虫的理想选择。生物防治是一个活跃的研究领域，可以减少我们对农药的依赖和对环境的影响。此外，许多种类的冬虫夏草和虫草科产生许多具有致病性的生物活性化合物。其中一些化合物已被开发用于医学（例如，来自C. subsessilis的环孢素A），但无数其他化合物等待发现。对这些真菌的物种边界的准确理解将提供一个预测框架，在这个框架中，其他生物学领域（例如，生物控制，药物发现等）的更集中和有针对性的研究可以进行。

Cordyceps is a genus of fungi that includes over 500 species, which are pathogens of insects and fungi. This study will conduct a monographic study of the genus and will provide a more accurate basis for recognizing and delineating species. It will involve extensive field collecting of specimens and will improve our knowledge of their distributions in nature. Molecular and morphological data will be collected from these organisms and analyzed to test current hypotheses of species based solely on morphology. Cordyceps is particularly abundant in East Asia and eastern North America, thus this project will include collaborations with Asian scientists. This research will train students and postdoctoral research associates in taxonomy of fungi, an understudied group of organisms for which additional expertise and researchers are needed. This project also contains an extensive World Wide Web component with information on all species of Cordyceps made freely available to the public via the Internet.Numerous species of Cordyceps are important in agriculture and medicine. Many species of Cordyceps are pathogens of insects and are promising candidates for biological control of insect pests. Biological control is an active area of research that may lessen our dependence on and environmental impact of pesticides. In addition, many species of Cordyceps and the Clavicipitaceae produce numerous biologically active compounds that function in pathogenicity. Some of these compounds have been exploited for use in medicine (e.g., Cyclosporin A from C. subsessilis), but countless others await discovery. An accurate understanding of the species boundaries of these fungi will provide a predictive framework in which more focused and directed research in other fields of biology (e.g., biological control, drug discovery, etc.) can proceed.