RUI: Collaborative Research: Phylogenomics of Anthozoa (Cnidaria): new approaches to long-standing problems

在世界范围内，人类和无数其他物种都依赖珊瑚礁作为住所、食物和生计。大气中二氧化碳的增加正在导致世界海洋变得更暖和更酸，这种化学变化可能会阻止珊瑚形成碳酸钙骨架。然而，化石记录表明，在过去的地质时代，一些珊瑚群在类似的环境危机中幸存下来，海洋化学的变化可能导致不同类型的骨骼或没有骨骼的珊瑚的进化。了解这些过去的进化转变以及它们发生的环境条件，可能有助于科学家预测今天造礁珊瑚对未来气候变化的反应。这个合作项目是由Harvey Mudd学院（一个主要的本科机构）和美国自然历史博物馆的研究人员合作进行的，他们将研究珊瑚虫（珊瑚、海葵和亲戚）中碳酸钙骨骼的进化。他们将首先生成一个广泛的时间校准的分子系统发育，然后使用这个进化框架来研究骨骼特征的进化。来自科学领域未被充分代表的群体的学生将通过PI对少数族裔服务的纽约城市理工学院（New York City College of Technology）和斯克里普斯学院（Scripps College Academy）的本科生的指导参与这项研究。斯克里普斯学院是洛杉矶地区一个面向高中女生的项目。该项目还将为美国自然历史博物馆的珊瑚公众展览制作各种宣传材料。尽管先前的分子系统发育研究已经发现了一些目之间关系的有力支持，但该树的关键区域仍然没有得到很好的解决，阻碍了理解该群体内部特征进化的努力。通过首先对8个亲缘关系较远的珊瑚虫类群进行全基因组测序，研究人员将设计一套可用于整个珊瑚虫的超保守元件（UCEs）。然后将生成该群体内跨越多样性的192种花刺动物的UCE序列，以生成该群体内关系的第一个系统基因组估计。然后，研究人员将使用这棵系统发育树和一套不同的比较方法来推断骨骼形成和进化转变的方向、时间和古气候相关性，以及进化分支内的其他特征，这些特征使珊瑚虫能够设计出地球上最大的生物结构。

Worldwide, humans and countless other species are dependent on coral reefs for shelter, sustenance and livelihoods. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing the world's oceans to become warmer and more acidic, a chemical change that may prevent corals from forming calcium carbonate skeletons. The fossil record indicates, however, that some groups of corals have survived similar environmental crises in past geological eras, and that changes in ocean chemistry may result in the evolution of different types of skeletons or of corals that lack skeletons. Understanding these past evolutionary transitions and the environmental conditions under which they occurred may help scientists predict the responses of today's reef-building corals to future climate change. This collaborative project between researchers from Harvey Mudd College, a Principally Undergraduate Institution, and the American Museum of Natural History will investigate the evolution of calcium carbonate skeletons in Anthozoa (corals, sea anemones, and relatives). They will first generate an extensive time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of the group and then use this evolutionary framework to study the evolution of skeletal characters. Students from groups underrepresented in the sciences will participate in this research through the PI's mentoring of undergraduates at the minority-serving New York City College of Technology, and the Scripps College Academy, a program for high school girls in the Los Angeles area. The project will also generate diverse outreach materials for a public display on corals at the American Museum of Natural History. Although previous molecular phylogenetic studies have found strong support for relationships among some orders of Anthozoa, key regions of the tree remain poorly resolved, impeding efforts to understand character evolution within the group. By first sequencing complete genomes from eight distantly related taxa of Anthozoa researchers will then design a set of Ultra-Conserved Elements (UCEs) that can be used throughout Anthozoa. UCE sequences will then be generated for 192 Anthozoa species spanning diversity within the group to generate the first phylogenomic estimate of relationships within the group. The researchers will then use this phylogenetic tree and a diverse set of comparative methods to infer the direction, timing and paleoclimatic correlates of evolutionary transitions in skeletogenesis and other traits within the clade that have allowed anthozoans to engineer the largest biological structures on the planet.