Collaborative Research: Estimating speciation/reticulation boundaries in asexual Alternaria: a genomics approach

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Understanding how species form (speciation) is a fundamental area of study in the fields of taxonomy and evolution, and is the basis of all studies in comparative biology. However, most current theories of speciation are based upon organisms that reproduce sexually, and little is known about how this process occurs in asexual organisms that reproduce clonally. Nevertheless, many groups of organisms, especially Fungi, encompass asexual lineages, which appear to be a common and integral part of biological diversity. Thus, understanding speciation in asexual fungi provides an excellent opportunity to develop a unifying concept of speciation across all taxa. This project will examine speciation in the asexual fungal genus Alternaria, one of the most common and important fungal groups world-wide. These fungi are critical agents of decay in nearly every ecosystem and cause a number of important plant, animal, and human diseases. Objectives of the proposed study include the development of a large genomic database encompassing 14 Alternaria species in two ecologically distinct species groups, and to develop criteria for quantitative species recognition and delimitation. The proposal will train graduate students in the field of mycology and bioinformatics, which will contribute to a new generation of biologists with broad computational background. Overall, it is expected that this project will serve as a new model for evolutionary research on both sexual and asexual organisms.