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

软体动物是种类繁多的动物，大约有20万种软体动物在经济和文化上都很重要。用传统的方法来辨别这一群体的进化关系是特别困难的，但是对这种关系的详细理解将有助于研究它们生物学的各个方面，并提供对一般进化原理的洞察。该项目将利用高通量DNA测序技术收集的新基因序列数据来解决软体动物的进化关系。这项研究将解决一些重要的进化问题，比如导致截然不同的身体结构进化的选择因素，从蠕虫样的软体动物到有壳的动物，再到高度改进的喷射推进的头足类动物的身体结构。此外，新的分析工具将被开发，这将提高整个新兴领域系统基因组学（利用全基因组信息研究生物进化关系）的研究效率。这些工具将免费提供给科学界。该项目还将包括拓展部分，通过在哈佛自然历史博物馆举办的一系列讲座和定期播客系列，将研究和教育结合起来。这些播客将被设计用于高中生物课，并且对普通观众来说是可以理解和信息丰富的。

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.