Collaborative Research: Assembling the Euteleost Tree of Life - Addressing the Major Unresolved Problem in Vertebrate Phylogeny

该项目将涉及来自八个机构的研究人员，致力于解决真骨鱼类内部的进化关系，真骨鱼类代表了脊椎动物多样性的三分之一以上。一个重要的组成部分将是教育公众对这些动物的重要性，进化历史和多样性。系统发育分析将使用代表所有真骨鱼类科的1,500个物种的20个基因的DNA序列数据，以及来自300个真骨鱼类谱系的大约450个形态特征。由此产生的系统发育假说将被用来促进鱼类多样性的演变的理解和重新评估和修订真骨鱼类的系统分类。将真骨鱼生命树的研究纳入科学教育，以真骨鱼的进化为框架，探索鱼类的形态、遗传、发育和行为多样性的进化。这将作为一个教学指南，一本“鱼类ToL活动书”，针对小学高年级和初中学生，并与全国科学教师协会出版社和全国4-H课后理事会合作，在非正规和学校环境中传播。本科生，研究生和博士后将直接参与研究项目。真硬骨鱼有346科、2,935属、17,419种。超过三分之二的鱼类和近三分之一的脊椎动物是真骨类，其中包括大多数经济上重要的鱼类，如鲑鱼、鲈鱼、鳕鱼和金枪鱼。这项研究将促进知情的预测知之甚少的特点，大多数真骨类，并将大大提高理解模式生物，如斑马鱼，河豚，慈鲷，青，棘鱼，这是中央新兴领域的功能基因组学，遗传学和进化发育生物学的进化背景。

This project will involve investigators from eight institutions working to resolve evolutionary relationships within the euteleost fishes, which represent over one third of vertebrate diversity. An important component will be education of the public on the importance, evolutionary history, and diversity of these animals. Phylogenetic analyses will employ DNA sequence data from 20 genes in 1,500 species representing all euteleost families, and approximately 450 morphological characters from 300 euteleost lineages. Resulting phylogenetic hypotheses will be used to facilitate understanding of the evolution of fish diversity and re-assess and revise the systematics of euteleosts. Research on the euteleost tree of life will be integrated into science education by using euteleost phylogeny as a framework for exploring the evolution of morphological, genetic, developmental, and behavioral diversity of fishes. This will be developed as an instructional guide, a "Fish ToL Activity Book," directed at upper elementary and middle school children and disseminated in non-formal and school settings working in partnership with the National Science Teachers Association Press and the National 4-H Afterschool Council. Undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs will participate directly in the research project. The euteleosts include some 346 families, 2,935 genera and 17,419 species. Over two thirds of all fishes and nearly a third of all vertebrates are euteleosts, which include most of the economically important fishes such as salmons, basses, cods and tunas. This study will facilitate informed predictions about the poorly known characteristics of most euteleosts and will considerably improve the evolutionary context for understanding model organisms such as zebrafish, pufferfish, cichlids, medaka, and stickleback, which are central to the burgeoning fields of functional genomics, genetics and evolutionary developmental biology.