DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Out of the Bushes and Into the Trees: Alternative Approaches to a Problematic Lamiaceae Phylogeny

论文研究：走出灌木丛，走进树木：有问题的唇形科系统发育的替代方法

• 批准号: 1210671
• 负责人: Pamela Soltis
• 金额: $ 1.48万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1210671&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Out; Bushes; Into

The mint family (Lamiaceae) is among the most diverse and economically important families of flowering plants, with many species used in traditional medicines or serving as important sources of timber, culinary herbs and spices, and essential oils. The extreme morphological complexity of the Lamiaceae, combined with the large number of species spanning diverse habitats, presents many taxonomic, or classification, problems; it is often difficult to distinguish closely related species. Numerous molecular studies have been published recently to help revise classifications?studies that reconstruct phylogenetic (genealogical) relationships among species using information from the genetic code (DNA). However, these analyses regularly yield patterns of unresolved relationships, and standard approaches used to resolve phylogenies, such as the reasonable addition of species and genes into the analyses, have been largely ineffective. The proposed research uses Lamiaceae as a case study to evaluate new, alternative approaches for resolving difficult phylogenetic problems and explores the limits of how evolutionary relationships can be efficiently and cost-effectively reconstructed for large groups of organisms. These approaches involve large-scale DNA (or genome) sequencing and new computational methods for phylogenetic inference. The research represents a necessary step towards resolving difficult phylogenetic problems in Lamiaceae and will help move mint systematics ?out of the bushes and into the trees??that is, to resolve clear evolutionary trees from the current unresolved ?bush? patterns.The proposed research is at the forefront of systematic biology, combing field botany with recent advances in computational biology and molecular genetics, and it has the potential to demonstrate the efficacy of new, cross-disciplinary approaches to resolving difficult phylogenetic problems that can be applied to other problematic groups of plants and animals. The results of this study will: produce the first chloroplast genomes for Lamiaceae; contribute insights into the evolutionary history and biogeography of North American mint groups; and provide an essential framework for a much-needed taxonomic revision. Moreover, because this study requires field exploration and population sampling, it will facilitate the discovery and recognition of new mint species or important sources of genetic diversity that may warrant protection by government agencies or conservation organizations.

薄荷家族（Lamiaceae）是开花植物中最多样化和经济上最重要的家庭之一，其中许多物种用于传统药物或用作木材，烹饪草药和香料以及精油的重要来源。 lamiaceae的极端形态复杂性，再加上跨越多种栖息地的大量物种，呈现出许多分类学或分类问题；通常很难区分密切相关的物种。最近已经发表了许多分子研究，以帮助修改分类？研究使用遗传密码（DNA）的信息重建物种之间的系统发育（家谱）关系的研究。但是，这些分析定期产生未解决的关系的模式，以及用于解决系统发育的标准方法，例如合理的物种和基因在分析中的合理添加，这在很大程度上是无效的。拟议的研究使用拉米科作为案例研究来评估解决困难的系统发育问题的新的替代方法，并探讨了如何有效，成本效率地重建大量生物体的进化关系的局限性。这些方法涉及系统发育推断的大规模DNA（或基因组）测序和新的计算方法。这项研究代表了解决lamiaceae中难以解决的系统发育问题的必要步骤，将有助于将薄荷系统化转移到灌木丛中，然后进入树木？也就是说，从当前未解决的灌木丛中解决清晰的进化树？拟议的研究处于系统生物学的最前沿，将现场植物学与计算生物学和分子遗传学的最新进展相结合，并且有可能证明可以解决其他可以应用于其他有问题的动植物群体的跨学科方法的新的，跨学科方法的疗效。这项研究的结果将：生成lamiaceae的第一个叶绿体基因组；对北美薄荷群体的进化史和生物地理学有助于见解；并为急需的分类学修订提供了必不可少的框架。此外，由于这项研究需要现场探索和人口抽样，因此它将促进对新薄荷物种或重要遗传多样性来源的发现和认识，这可能需要政府机构或保护组织的保护。