Dimensions: Collaborative Research: An Interdisciplinary Study of Hyperdiverse Endophytic Fungi and Their Function in Boreal Forests

作为生态和进化创新的主要来源，共生体推动了基因组进化、生态多样化和物种形成--从而塑造了生命多样性的所有维度。这项研究的目标是检查内生植物的分类、遗传和功能多样性，内生植物是地球上最普遍但最不被了解的共生体之一。内生真菌存在于所有植物的健康地上组织中(地衣中的内生真菌)，包括农作物和饲料植物，并在北方森林中达到其系统发育多样性的顶峰，北方森林是一个具有巨大全球重要性的危险生态系统。这项跨学科的研究将开发一条新的生物多样性信息学管道，以发现、评估和描述环北缘带周围多个空间和系统发育尺度上的北方内生植物新物种。基于培养和无培养的调查将产生迄今为止最大的内生真菌样本，为测试关于子囊菌门(物种最丰富的真菌门)生态模式进化的新假说奠定基础；开发新的模型系统，首次评估内生菌群落的功能多样性；并阐明形成这种多样性的遗传机制，包括可移动遗传元素、菌丝内微生物共生体和基因组进化。数据将通过一个围绕核苷酸分析程序套件(SNAP)建立的综合系统进行管理和发布，并通过一个专门的门户网站EndoBioDiversity.org公布。这一高度一体化的项目还寻求促进高中生、STEM教师、本科生和研究生以及博士后学者在科学方面的多样性，范围从四所大学的本地推广到广泛的国际合作。主办国际研究人员，领导国际研讨会，发展国际研讨会，将协同真菌分类学和分子系统学，同时将物种描述的比率提高到前所未有的水平，并促进在真菌共生体研究方面的新合作。除了建立和共享新的生物多样性信息学工具外，还将开发和储存永久性真菌培养标本和广泛的分子序列数据集。

As major sources of ecological and evolutionary innovation, symbioses drive genome evolution, ecological diversification, and speciation - and thus shape all dimensions of the diversity of life. The goal of this study is to examine the taxonomic, genetic, and functional diversity of endophytes, one of Earth's most prevalent, but least-understood, groups of symbionts. Endophytic fungi are found within healthy above-ground tissues of all plants (and in lichens as "endolichenic fungi"), including crop- and forage plants, and peak in their phylogenetic diversity in boreal forests, an imperiled ecosystem of immense global importance. This interdisciplinary study will develop a novel biodiversity informatics pipeline to discover, evaluate, and describe new species of boreal endophytes at multiple spatial and phylogenetic scales around the circumboreal belt. Culture-based and culture-free surveys will yield the largest sample of endophytic fungi to date, setting the stage for testing novel hypotheses regarding the evolution of ecological modes in the Ascomycota, the most species-rich fungal phylum; developing new model systems for evaluating, for the first time, the functional diversity of endophyte communities; and elucidating the genetic mechanisms shaping that diversity, including mobile genetic elements, endohyphal microbial symbionts, and genome evolution. Data will be managed and released through an integrated system built around the Suite of Nucleotide Analysis Programs (SNAP) and made public through a dedicated web portal, EnDoBiodiversity.org. This highly integrative project also seeks to promote diversity in science for high school students, STEM teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars at scales ranging from local outreach at four universities to widespread international collaboration. Hosting of international researchers, leadership of international workshops, and development of international symposia will synergize fungal taxonomy and molecular systematics while boosting rates of species descriptions to a level never reached before and fostering novel collaborations in the study of fungal symbionts. Building and sharing of novel biodiversity informatics tools will be complemented by development and deposition of permanent fungal culture collections and extensive molecular sequence datasets.