Systematics of Free-living Rhabditina (Nematoda)

该项目旨在为横纹肌线虫的进化和系统工作建立一个框架，横纹肌线虫是一种分布在全球的自由生活的陆地蛔虫。本项目主要研究Eurhabditis和Pleiorhabditis两个物种群（分支）。主要目标是利用多基因序列解析进化树；阐明形态特征的进化，以确定哪些特征最能诊断不同的分类类群；并建立一个在线数据库和密钥，以便使所有这些信息免费并在全球范围内可用。它们的多样性、在有机分解中的重要作用、作为生物指示物的有用性、与其他物种的关联以及物种和个体的绝对丰富使横纹肌线虫成为一个重要的分类群，但它是最需要系统工作和数据共享资源的分类群之一。该项目为越来越多的横纹虫发育、行为、繁殖、基因组结构和功能的比较和进化研究提供了一个系统框架，因为该群体包括模式遗传生物秀丽隐杆线虫和“卫星”模型，如太平洋Pristionchus、Oscheius tipulae等。在这个项目的过程中，研究生和本科生以及一名博士后将在横纹肌系统学方面进行培训，以防止该领域专业知识的消失。

The project seeks to build a framework for evolutionary and systematic work in the rhabditid nematodes, a globally distributed group of free-living terrestrial roundworms. This project focuses on two species groups (clades), Eurhabditis and Pleiorhabditis. The primary objectives are to resolve evolutionary trees using multigene sequences; to elucidate the evolution of morphological characters in order to determine which features best diagnose different taxonomic groups; and to build an online database and key in order to make all this information freely and globally available.Their diversity, significant role in organic decomposition, usefulness as bioindicators, the associations they make with other species, and the sheer abundance of species and individuals make rhabditid nematodes an important taxon, yet it is one of the neediest for systematic work and data-sharing resources. This project provides a systematic framework for a growing number of comparative and evolutionary studies of rhabditid development, behavior, reproduction, and genome structure and function, because the group includes the model genetic organism Caenorhabditis elegans and "satellite" models such as Pristionchus pacificus, Oscheius tipulae, and others. In the process of this project, graduate and undergraduate students and a postdoctoral researcher will be trained in rhabditid systematics, preventing the extinction of expertise in this field.