Collaborative Research: Testing hypotheses about diversity, gene flow, and effective population size in marine planktonic ciliates

合作研究：检验有关海洋浮游纤毛虫多样性、基因流和有效种群规模的假设

• 批准号: 0648713
• 负责人: Laura Katz
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Smith College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-03-01 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0648713&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Testing; hypotheses; about

The decoupling of molecular and classical approaches to environmental microbiology has not been fruitful and it represents one of the most important challenges for the field in the coming years. Classical approaches center on the centuries-old tradition of describing individual species via meticulous observation and analysis to generate monographs, such as is done for plants and animals. Unfortunately, the rush to new molecular techniques has sometimes ignored this tradition, with claims about new lineages never seen before and reports of staggering diversity of microbial eukaryotes based on environmental DNA samples not backed up by even the most elementary microscopic observations. In the face of this disconnect between the traditional and the molecular, this project is a marriage of the two approaches in the study of marine ciliate diversity and gene flow. Preliminary data show that in some clades of planktonic ciliates (Strombidiidae) there is indeed a high level of molecular diversity underlying a relatively small number of morphospecies. In other clades (some choreotrichs), the opposite appears to be true, with morphological heterogeneity underlain by apparently clonal lines, based on molecular data. Currently, we do not understand what sustains diversity in some clades; nor do we know why other clades show low diversity. This problem is amenable to both experimental and observational approaches. This project will follow a two-pronged approach, combining molecular (clone libraries, DGGE, FISH) and traditional (light microscopy) techniques to address three broad questions: 1). What are the most important physical and biological factors that affect distribution and diversity of planktonic marine ciliates? 2). What is the effective population size for marine ciliate populations, and how does this compare to census population sizes? 3). How well do traditional morphological descriptions of ciliate species fare when compared with molecular characterizations? Using a combination of molecular and microscopy methods, the investigators will address these questions in coastal planktonic ciliates. Analyses of the resulting data will yield insights into the nature of ciliate species and patterns of gene flow within the North Atlantic.The broader impacts of this proposal include training and outreach to K-12 educators. The PIs have a past record that demonstrates success in training both undergraduate and graduate students. Both PIs have proven track records in mentoring students from traditionally underrepresented groups, and they will continue to aim recruitment activities towards broadening diversity of participants in this project. The PIs will also participate in teacher training through a partnership with Project Oceanology, a private non-profit marine education organization located at UConn. Each summer of the project they will host two K-12 teachers who will receive tuition scholarships to earn graduate credit for research experiences in ciliate biology and ecology under the supervision of the PIs. Finally, resulting data from this project will be made available through the internet as well as in publications.

环境微生物学的分子方法和经典方法的脱钩尚未取得成果，它是未来几年该领域最重要的挑战之一。经典方法以数百年的传统为中心，即通过细致的观察和分析来描述单个物种，以生成专着，就像对植物和动物所做的那样。不幸的是，对新分子技术的热潮有时忽视了这一传统，一些关于前所未见的新谱系的主张，以及基于环境 DNA 样本的微生物真核生物惊人多样性的报道，甚至没有得到最基本的显微镜观察的支持。面对传统与分子之间的脱节，该项目是海洋纤毛虫多样性和基因流研究中两种方法的结合。初步数据表明，在浮游纤毛虫（Strombidiidae）的一些进化枝中，相对较少的形态种确实存在高水平的分子多样性。在其他进化枝（一些编舞动物）中，情况似乎恰恰相反，根据分子数据，形态异质性背后是明显的克隆系。目前，我们不明白是什么维持了某些进化枝的多样性；我们也不知道为什么其他进化枝表现出低多样性。这个问题可以通过实验和观察方法解决。该项目将采用双管齐下的方法，结合分子（克隆文库、DGGE、FISH）和传统（光学显微镜）技术来解决三个广泛的问题：1)。影响浮游海洋纤毛虫分布和多样性的最重要的物理和生物因素是什么？ 2）。海洋纤毛虫种群的有效种群规模是多少？与普查种群规模相比如何？ 3）。与分子表征相比，纤毛虫物种的传统形态描述效果如何？研究人员将结合分子和显微镜方法来解决沿海浮游纤毛虫的这些问题。对所得数据的分析将深入了解北大西洋纤毛虫物种的性质和基因流动模式。该提案的更广泛影响包括对 K-12 教育工作者的培训和推广。 PI 过去的记录表明他们在培养本科生和研究生方面取得了成功。两位 PI 在指导传统上代表性不足群体的学生方面都有着良好的记录，他们将继续致力于扩大该项目参与者的多样性。 PI 还将通过与位于康涅狄格大学的私人非营利性海洋教育组织 Project Oceanology 合作参加教师培训。该项目的每年夏天，他们都会接待两名 K-12 教师，他们将获得学费奖学金，以便在 PI 的监督下获得纤毛虫生物学和生态学研究经验的研究生学分。最后，该项目的结果数据将通过互联网和出版物提供。