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，哈佛大学获得了一项研究真菌和木本植物共生关系的奖项。本项资助将进一步提高本杰明·沃尔夫博士论文的研究水平。外生菌根真菌在木本植物根系表面形成共生关系。这种共生关系通过增强植物对水和矿物质的吸收而使植物受益，并为真菌提供了植物营养的来源。这些共生体在蘑菇形成真菌的过程中进化了多次。然而，这些共生真菌的生态和基因组变化仍然知之甚少。这项工作将使用Amanita属，该属包括许多有毒物种，包括共生和非共生真菌物种。本文将构建200种金刚鹦鹉的分子系统发育，以确定在金刚鹦鹉中共生进化的次数。为了研究共生进化如何影响资源获取，我们将测量金刚伞属植物的碳和氮稳定同位素。功能基因的结构和基因组大小的估计将用于评估与共生进化相关的基因组变化。该项目将深入了解森林生态系统中具有重要经济和生态意义的外生菌根共生关系的演变。这项工作还将直接有助于培养博士生，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.