Vertebrate Morphology, Phylogeny, and 3D Phyloinformatics

脊椎动物形态学、系统发育和 3D 系统信息学

• 批准号: 0531767
• 负责人: Timothy Rowe
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 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: 2005-09-15 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0531767&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Vertebrate; Morphology; Phylogeny; 3D; Phyloinformatics

The goal of this work is to provide a systematic framework for vertebrate evolution. This will be accomplished by building a digital library of 3-D datasets for higher-level vertebrate phylogenetic analysis, using the highest quality and resolution now possible. It will establish a 3-D phyloinformatics infrastructure for systematics with application links for transferring scientific information from voxel data, via 2D imagery and annotation tools, to community databases. By integrating tools from MorphBank with Digimorph and newly developed controlled-vocabulary tools they will create an innovative new collaborative environment for morphology and systematics. Legacy data will include a library of volumetric data for approximately 1000 important fossils and recent specimens. This project builds on the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT) and the Digital Library of Vertebrate Morphology, which tested High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (HRXCT) for volumetric imaging of the vertebrate skeleton at meso- and macroscales, from embryo to adult, in fossils and recent specimens. It also established an informatics platform that disseminates nearly a terabyte of 3D CT datasets and derivative visualizations via the Web (DigiMorph.org) and as CD-ROM supplements to conventional publications. CIPRes and Morphbank provide a phyloinformatics platform into which the new 3D data will be integrated. The collective aim is to transform DigiMorph.org into a morerobust resource that meets the rigorous demands of systematic biology. It will also deploy Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM) to comparative soft tissue analysis in the various vertebrates that lack mineralization.This proposal includes an improved Digimorph.org with significantly more content, improved search tools, and access to tools for manipulating and viewing data. This web site, averaging 30,000 visitors a month provides over 3000 movies and animations representing nearly 300 species of plants and animals. Organisms range from a 300 million year-old fossil tunicate only a few millimeters in diameter to an African lion, from a tulip flower to one of the earliest known dinosaur fossils. The Texas Memorial Museum, with over 100,000 K-12 visitors expected this year, has devoted a new exhibit to 3-D models and movies derived from Digimorph scans. This type of educational environment provides an unrivaled opportunity for introducing fundamental biological principals to an audience eager to "see more." This new digital pipeline from research to the public, via web sites and museums, speeds the dissemination of discovery and assures a novel impact for all visitors to Digimorph. The project will train graduate students and researchers in the mechanical and anatomical study of volumetric data. This will be a large step in extending the field of morphology from an analog to a digital environment, and the emergence of an informatics infrastructure exportable to other communities of engineers, physicians and biologists who use 3D data in their research.

这项工作的目的是为脊椎动物的进化提供一个系统的框架。这将通过建立一个用于高级脊椎动物系统发育分析的三维数据集数字图书馆来完成，使用目前可能的最高质量和分辨率。它将为系统学建立一个3-D系统信息学基础设施，通过应用程序链接将科学信息从体素数据，通过2 - d图像和注释工具，转移到社区数据库。通过整合MorphBank与Digimorph的工具和新开发的控制词汇工具，他们将为形态学和系统学创造一个创新的新协作环境。遗留数据将包括大约1000个重要化石和最近标本的体积数据库。该项目建立在德克萨斯大学高分辨率x射线计算机断层扫描设施（UTCT）和脊椎动物形态学数字图书馆的基础上，该图书馆测试了高分辨率x射线计算机断层扫描（HRXCT），用于脊椎动物骨骼在中观和宏观尺度上的体积成像，从胚胎到成年，化石和最近的标本。它还建立了一个信息平台，通过网络（DigiMorph.org）传播近1tb的3D CT数据集和衍生的可视化图像，并作为传统出版物的CD-ROM补充。CIPRes和Morphbank提供了一个系统信息学平台，新的3D数据将被集成到该平台中。他们的共同目标是将DigiMorph.org转变为一个更强大的资源，以满足系统生物学的严格要求。它还将利用磁共振显微镜（MRM）对各种缺乏矿化的脊椎动物的软组织进行比较分析。该提案包括改进的Digimorph.org，内容明显增加，改进的搜索工具，以及操作和查看数据的工具。这个网站每月平均有3万名访客，提供3000多部电影和动画，涉及近300种动植物。从直径只有几毫米的3亿年前的被囊动物化石到非洲狮，从郁金香花到已知最早的恐龙化石之一。德州纪念博物馆（Texas Memorial Museum）今年预计将接待超过10万名K-12课程的游客，该博物馆专门举办了一个新的展览，展示由数码变形扫描产生的3d模型和电影。这种类型的教育环境为向渴望“看到更多”的观众介绍基本的生物学原理提供了无与伦比的机会。这条从研究到公众的新数字管道，通过网站和博物馆，加速了发现的传播，并确保对Digimorph的所有访客产生新的影响。该项目将在体积数据的力学和解剖学研究方面培养研究生和研究人员。这将是将形态学领域从模拟环境扩展到数字环境的一大步，并且可以向其他在研究中使用3D数据的工程师，医生和生物学家导出信息基础设施的出现。