Phylogeny and diversification of the aril in the Celastraceae

卫矛科是一个主要的泛热带草本、藤本、灌木和乔木科，有几个亚热带和较少的温带成员。目前已知的卫矛科97属约1194种，在雄蕊、果实和种子特征上表现出很大的差异，这些特征已被用作分类的主要依据。最近基于序列的系统发育研究有助于澄清以前异质的卫矛科的划界，并使研究人员能够进行全面的系统发育分析，以建立该科的属间关系，并提出系统发育分类。系统发育分析与ARIL(许多开花植物谱系中用于种子传播的初级结构)的解剖学研究相结合，将确定卫矛科中ARIL的同源性和多样化模式，并有助于加深我们对假种皮同源性的理解。这个项目将用于帮助培养一名研究生和几名本科生。研究生将参与项目的所有部分，包括改进方法，获取和分析数据，以及撰写手稿。在被介绍到系统学研究的同时，本科生将学习一般的分子实验室技术以及如何分析他们产生的DNA序列。推测的卫矛科的系统发育和有关该目、科和建议的每个亚科的信息将张贴在WWW上，供公众参考和应用于世界各地的植物区系。

Celastraceae are a principally pantropical family of herbs, vines, shrubs, and trees with several subtropical and fewer temperate members. The 97 currently recognized genera and about 1,194 species in Celastraceae exhibit substantial variation in stamen, fruit, and seed characters that have been used as the main bases with which to classify the family. Recent sequence-based phylogenetic studies have helped to clarify the delimitation of the formerly heterogeneous Celastraceae and enable the investigators to perform a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis with which to establish the intergeneric relationships, and set forth a phylogenetic classification, of the family. The phylogenetic analysis, paired with anatomical studies of arils (the primary structures used for seed dispersal in many flowering-plant lineages), will determine the homology and pattern of diversification of arils within Celastraceae and help to refine our understanding of aril homology.This project will be used to help train one graduate student and several undergraduate students. The graduate student will participate in all parts of the project, including refining the methodology, obtaining and analyzing data, and writing manuscripts. While being introduced to systematics research, undergraduates will learn general molecular lab techniques and how to analyze the DNA sequences that they generate. The inferred phylogeny of Celastraceae and information on the order, family, and each of the proposed subfamilies will be posted on the WWW for reference by the general public and application to floras from around the world.