AToL: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Assembling the Beetle Tree of Life

AToL：合作研究：组装甲虫生命之树

• 批准号: 0531665
• 负责人: Michael Whiting
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Brigham Young University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-10-01 至 2010-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0531665&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: AToL; COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Assembling; Beetle

0531665Whiting Human beings, also it would appear, have "an inordinate fondness for beetles" (to cite J.B.S. Haldane), at least an inordinate fondness for the study of this species-rich and life-history diverse lineage of insects. A team led by Dr. Brian Farrell at Harvard University, Dr. Michael Whiting at Brigham Young University, and Dr. David Maddison at the University of Arizona, with colleagues from around the world, will conduct an extensive study of beetle (insect order Coleoptera) phylogeny to provide the first broad scale view of beetle diversification. With ca. 350,000 described species, beetles comprise a huge fraction of the world's biota and are dominant in every terrestrial ecosystem. Beetles represent the most diverse and rapid radiation of any terrestrial organismal group, yet we have only a rudimentary knowledge of their deeper level phylogeny, and still do not understand even their most basic patterns of diversity. Collectively, beetles represent nearly every feeding habit among insects including herbivory and fungivory (feeding upon fungi), saprophagy (feeding upon decaying matter), predation and parasitism, and a thorough study of their evolutionary history would provide insight into the role of feeding habits in species diversity. The team of 40 leading beetle researchers worldwide, with expertise in nearly every beetle lineage, proposes to construct a framework phylogeny (genealogical tree) for all beetles, utilizing a 3-tier approach. Tier 1: 54 exemplar species, representing all major beetle lineages, will be sampled extensively for character data (morphology plus 23kb of DNA sequence data including complete mitochondrial genomes) to provide a robust outline of the relationships among the major (superfamily) groups of beetles. Tier 2: 300 additional species will sampled for morphology and 12kb of sequence data to establish relationships among beetle families. Tier 3: 3000 additional species will be sequenced for 1.5 kb of DNA sequence data, with morphology added for a subset of these, to better characterize the grand diversity of beetle phylogeny at the subfamilial level. Novel bioinformatics tools will be developed to streamline data processing for the molecular and morphological data, and will allow for greater efficiency, accuracy, and reproducibility of the data and associated results, while providing an online framework for collaboration by participants throughout the world. This represents the first time that coleopterists have collaborated on such a large-scale phylogenetic project, and the work should result in a robust estimate of beetle phylogeny that will provide a predictive basis for classification and integration of information on this ecologically and economically important group of insects. Information on all aspects of beetles will be disseminated through the Tree-of-Life website hosted at the University of Arizona, a traveling Spanish-language / English-language museum exhibit, and through publications and symposia. This research will provide training for graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students, including 10 female researchers and an undergraduate student with disabilities.

人类似乎也“对甲虫有着过度的喜爱”(引用J.B.S.霍尔丹的话)，至少对这种物种丰富、生活史多样的昆虫谱系的研究有着过度的喜爱。由哈佛大学的Brian Farrell博士、杨百翰大学的Michael Whiting博士和亚利桑那大学的David Maddison博士领导的一个团队，将与来自世界各地的同事一起，对甲虫(昆虫目鞘翅目)的系统发育进行广泛的研究，以提供甲虫多样化的第一个大范围的视角。甲虫被描述的物种约有350,000种，它们构成了世界生物群的一大部分，并在每个陆地生态系统中占据主导地位。甲虫代表着所有陆地生物群体中最多样化和最迅速的辐射，但我们对它们更深层次的系统发育只有基本的了解，甚至连它们最基本的多样性模式也不了解。总体而言，甲虫几乎代表了昆虫中的每一种食性，包括草食和真菌(以真菌为食)、腐食(以腐烂的物质为食)、捕食和寄生，深入研究它们的进化史将有助于深入了解食性在物种多样性中的作用。这个由全球40名顶尖甲虫研究人员组成的团队，几乎拥有每一种甲虫谱系的专业知识，建议利用三级方法为所有甲虫构建一个框架系统学(系谱树)。第1级：将对代表所有主要甲虫谱系的54个样本物种进行广泛抽样，以获得特征数据(形态加上23kb的DNA序列数据，包括完整的线粒体基因组)，以提供主要(超家族)甲虫群体之间关系的可靠轮廓。第二级：将对另外300个物种进行形态采样和12kb的序列数据，以建立甲虫家族之间的关系。第3级：将为1.5kb的DNA序列数据对另外3000个物种进行测序，并为其中的子集添加形态，以更好地在亚科水平上描述甲虫系统发育的巨大多样性。将开发新的生物信息学工具，以简化分子和形态数据的数据处理，并将提高数据和相关结果的效率、准确性和重复性，同时为世界各地的参与者提供一个在线合作框架。这是鞘翅目昆虫第一次在如此大规模的系统发育项目上进行合作，这项工作应该会产生对甲虫系统发育的强有力的估计，这将为分类和整合关于这一具有生态和经济重要性的昆虫群体的信息提供预测基础。关于甲虫所有方面的信息将通过亚利桑那大学主办的生命之树网站、西班牙语/英语博物馆巡回展览以及出版物和研讨会进行传播。这项研究将为研究生、本科生和高中生提供培训，其中包括10名女研究人员和1名本科生。