DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Ecological and Genomic Patterns in the Evolution of Symbiosis in the Fungal Genus Amanita

在安妮·普林格尔博士的指导下，哈佛大学被授予研究真菌和木本植物共生的奖项。这笔拨款将改善本杰明·沃尔夫的博士论文研究。外生菌根真菌在木本植物根部表面形成共生组合。这种共生关系通过增加水分和矿物质的吸收而使植物受益，并为真菌提供来自植物的营养来源。这些共生体在整个蘑菇中进化了多次，形成了真菌。然而，这些共生体中真菌的生态和基因组变化仍然知之甚少。这项工作将使用鹅膏菌属，该属包括许多有毒物种，包括共生和非共生的真菌物种。我们将构建200种鹅膏菌的分子系统发育图，以确定鹅膏菌共生进化的次数。为了研究共生进化如何影响资源获取，将测量鹅膏属物种的碳和氮的稳定同位素。功能基因的结构和基因组大小的估计将被用来评估与共生进化相关的基因组变化。该项目将深入了解外生菌根共生的演变，这是森林生态系统中一种重要的经济和生态共生。这项工作还将直接有助于博士生的培养，为本科生提供研究机会，并促进大学研究实验室、公民科学家和科学教育工作者之间的合作。

An award has been made to Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Anne Pringle to study the symbiosis of fungi and woody plants. The grant will improve the doctoral dissertation research of Benjamin Wolfe. Ectomycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic associations on the surface of woody plant roots. This symbiosis benefits the plant by enhancing water and mineral absorption, and it provides the fungi with a source of nutrients from the plant. These symbioses have evolved multiple times throughout the mushroom forming fungi. However, ecological and genomic changes in the fungi in these symbioses remain poorly understood. This work will use the genus Amanita, a genus that includes many toxic species and includes both symbiotic and nonsymbiotic species of fungi. A molecular phylogeny of 200 Amanita species will be constructed to determine the number of times symbiosis has evolved in Amanita. To examine how the evolution of symbiosis affects resource acquisition, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen will be measured for Amanita species. The structure of functional genes and estimates of genome size will be used to assess genomic changes associated with the evolution of symbiosis. This project will provide insight on the evolution of the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, an economically and ecologically important symbiosis in forest ecosystems. This work will also directly contribute to the training of a Ph.D. student, provide research opportunities for undergraduate students, and foster collaborations between university research labs, citizen scientists, and science educators.