DIMENSIONS: Collaborative Research: The Making of Biodiversity Across the Yeast Subphylum

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The yeasts are model organisms for understanding and integrating the genetic and ecological factors that drive species diversification and generate biodiversity. Yeasts show remarkably different types of metabolism, allowing them to successfully inhabit every continent and every major aquatic and terrestrial habitat, however little is known about the distribution of these traits among the diversity of yeast species. By creating and analyzing the first comprehensive genomic dataset and catalog of metabolic diversity for a high-level taxonomic rank (subphylum), this project will provide insight into how key changes in metabolism shape eukaryotic microbial ecology and diversity. Inclusive large-scale analysis of the genome data will be fostered by creating an interactive web-based interface for researchers, clinicians, teachers, and students to explore the subphylum as a model for understanding the making of biodiversity. These data will be of potential value for practitioners using yeast to improve industrial and medical processes. The goals of this project are to determine the metabolic and ecological diversity of the Saccharomycotina subphylum at the genetic and phenotypic (e.g. metabolism, morphology) levels, and then to infer the tempo and mode of change across its history. To determine the genetic basis of metabolic diversity, the project will generate functionally annotated genome sequences for all ~1,000 known species and compare genome content with ecological and metabolic data from the entire subphylum. The project will accurately reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of all known species and will use these relationships to develop a stable taxonomy of medically and biotechnologically important yeasts. The project will provide new insights into the manner in which biodiversity arises and the key changes that drive and shape it by tracing the history of yeast metabolism, ecology, and pathogenicity.