Collaborative Research: Resolving old questions in Mollusc phylogenetics with new EST data and developing general phylogenomic tools

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Molluscs are megadiverse animals, and the roughly 200,000 species are economically and culturally important. Discerning the evolutionary relationships within this group has been particularly difficult using traditional approaches, but a detailed understanding of such relationships would facilitate studies of all aspects of their biology and provide insight into general evolutionary principles. This project will resolve molluscan evolutionary relationships with new gene sequence data collected with high-throughput DNA sequencing technology. The research will resolve important evolutionary questions, such as the selective factors leading to the evolution of wildly disparate body plans, ranging from worm-like mollusks to shelled forms to the highly modified jet-propulsion body plan of cephalopods. In addition, new analytical tools will be developed that will improve the efficiency of research across the emerging field of phylogenomics (the use of genome-wide information for studying organismal evolutionary relationships). These tools will be made freely available to the scientific community. The project will also include outreach components that will integrate research and education through a series of lectures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and a regular podcast series. The podcasts will be designed for use within high school biology classes, and understandable and informative to a general audience.