International Research Fellowship Program: Towards Conservation and Sustainable Use: Genetic Diversity and Reproductive Mode of the Endangered Himalayan Fungus O. sinensis

国际研究奖学金计划：走向保护和可持续利用：濒危喜马拉雅真菌中华蘑菇的遗传多样性和繁殖模式

• 批准号: 1019044
• 负责人: Kathryn Bushley
• 金额: $ 14.62万
• 依托单位: Bushley Kathryn E
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1019044&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: International; Research; Fellowship; Program; Towards

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Kathryn Bushley to work with Dr. Yijian Yao at the Institute of Microbiology in China. Ophiocordyceps sinensis (synonym: Cordyceps sinensis) is an endangered, endemic, and highly valued medicinal fungus which parasitizes species of the Himalayan ghost moth Thitarodes (synonym: Hepialus). The combination of fungus and parasitized moth, called Yartsa gunbu ("winter-worm, summer-grass") in Tibetan or dongchong xiacao in Chinese, has been harvested and used medicinally in both Chinese and Tibetan Medicine for at least three centuries. Within the last decade, however, a nearly tenfold increase in market value has led to increased harvest and overexploitation. This project addresses several fundamental gaps in scientific knowledge of the 1) systematics, 2) genetic diversity, 3) reproductive biology, and 4) ecology of O. sinensis which currently hamper efforts to assess the impacts of increased harvesting on population viability and to develop strategies for sustainable use. Multilocus sequence datasets are being used to better delimit species boundaries of O. sinensis and population genetic markers (microsatellites and SNPs) are being developed to characterize the distribution of genetic diversity both within and between subpopulations. This research will also contribute to a better understanding of the reproductive biology of O. sinensis by cloning the mating type locus to determine whether O. sinensis is homothallic (selfing) or heterothallic (outcrossing). Reproductive biology and spore dispersal in natural populations are also being investigated by estimating the outcrossing rate, evaluating random mating and rates of recombination using sequence based markers, and analyzing patterns of fine scale spatial genetic variation in four field populations located in Yunnan province, China. The scientific impacts of this project include delimiting phylogenetic species and characterizing the genetic diversity and reproductive biology of this economically important fungus. Results of this research will contribute to conservation efforts as well as expand knowledge of the ecology and spatial distribution of insect pathogenic fungi in nature which has applications towards their development as biocontrol agents in agriculture and forestry. The broader impacts of this work include advanced training and international collaboration for the postdoctoral fellow and undergraduate students, the forging of new relationships between scientific experts in Cordyceps biology from China and the U.S., and dissemination of knowledge relevant to conservation of O. sinensis to scientists and the general public in both China and the U.S. through a variety of means: 1) publication in peer reviewed journals, 2) sharing of knowledge with local harvesters intimately involved in managing the resource, and 3) hosting of an international symposium on sustainable use of O. sinensis for researchers from several Himalayan nations.

国际研究奖学金项目使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Kathryn Bushley博士与姚益健博士在中国微生物研究所开展为期24个月的研究。冬虫夏草（Ophiocordyceps sinensis，同义词：Cordyceps sinensis）是一种寄生在喜马拉雅鬼蛾（Hepialus）上的濒危、特有种、高价值的药用真菌。然而，在过去十年中，市场价值增长了近十倍，导致了收成的增加和过度开采。本项目旨在解决中华白鲟在系统学、遗传多样性、生殖生物学和生态学方面存在的几个基本问题，这些问题目前阻碍了评估采伐增加对种群活力的影响和制定可持续利用战略的工作。目前正利用多位点序列数据集更好地划分中华o.o sinensis的种界，并正在开发群体遗传标记（微卫星和snp）来表征亚种内部和亚种之间的遗传多样性分布。本研究还将通过克隆交配型基因座来确定中华圆蝽是同型（自交）还是异型（异交），有助于更好地了解中华圆蝽的生殖生物学。通过估算异交率，利用序列标记评估随机交配率和重组率，分析云南4个野外种群的精细尺度空间遗传变异模式，对自然种群的生殖生物学和孢子传播进行了研究。该项目的科学影响包括划分系统发育物种，表征这种重要的经济真菌的遗传多样性和生殖生物学。本研究结果将有助于昆虫病原真菌的保护工作，扩大对自然界中昆虫病原真菌的生态和空间分布的认识，并为开发昆虫病原真菌作为农业和林业的生物防治剂提供应用。这项工作的广泛影响包括为博士后和本科生提供高级培训和国际合作，在中美两国的冬虫夏草生物学科学专家之间建立新的关系，并通过各种方式向中美两国的科学家和公众传播有关冬虫夏草保护的知识：1)在同行评议的期刊上发表论文，2)与当地密切参与资源管理的采集者分享知识，3)为来自几个喜马拉雅国家的研究人员举办了一个关于永续利用中华O. sinensis的国际研讨会。