ABI: Sustaining - MorphoBank: the web tool and database for phylogenetic tree-building with phenotypes and the interpretation of trait evolution

科学家通过研究表型(解剖学、行为学、生理学)和基因型来理解和解释物种的进化。包括化石物种在内的这些数据的整合，使得生命树的重建成为可能，《科学》杂志已将其确定为新千年125个最大的科学挑战之一。通过记录造树的表型，研究人员检验了主要的进化假说，如一个物种何时发育出花朵？还是会飞的能力？地球上有数以千万计的物种，组织这些信息需要大量创造性的计算机基础设施。这种用于基因类型信息的基础设施已经存在了一段时间，很大程度上是由20世纪的人类基因组计划发起的。然而，表型的组织工具和数据库在历史上并没有得到类似的关注。因此，在2001年，在国家科学基金会的支持下，研究人员发起了MorPhoBank(http://www.morphobank.org/)，)，这是一个开源的网络应用程序和数据库，已成为收集、组织、存储和呈现整个生命树表型数据的现代工具。由于软件必须不断变化才能在不断发展的互联网世界中发挥作用，该项目旨在支持MorPhoBank软件和基础设施，使工具和数据库成为进化生物学社区和公众的强大资源。MorPhoBank为科学家提供了一个独特的数字工作空间，以便与世界各地的其他人实时合作，并进行与生命之树和进化相关的数据收集。关键的统计数据突显了MorPhoBank之前的成功。科学家每月记录9万次观测，并加载2000张新生成的、经过整理和注释的图像。每月有超过2,000名访问者访问该网站，观看项目3000次，矩阵6000次，媒体7.5万次。MorPhoBank上发表的项目中，有30%来自NSF单独资助的地质学、生物学和人类学拨款。另有35%的项目拥有由国际科学机构资助的研究成果，使MorPhoBank成为一个作为工具和档案的全球目的地。在MorPhoBank包括NSF支持的为哺乳动物组装生命树(ATOL)项目之前，这是不可能的学术研究。这项研究发表在《科学》杂志上，其中包括一个由20多名研究人员组成的团队进行的数十万次科学观测的12000张图片。这份报纸得到了广泛的报道(纽约时报，BBC，时代杂志)，包括提到MorPhoBank是使研究成为可能的创新。MorPhoBank代表了美国科学基础设施中的一个新元素，为独立于地点的全球科学合作提供了一个模型平台。目前项目对教育和培训的拟议贡献包括：(1)为纽约石溪大学计算机科学专业的少数民族学生举办一个基于网络的生物信息学软件课程；(2)为该课程中被选中的学生提供两个暑期实习机会；(3)在美国自然历史博物馆为高中生举办两个“形态演化”课程，以学习研究表型的科学实践。

Scientists understand and interpret the evolution of species by studying both phenotypes (anatomy, behavior, physiology) and genotypes. The integration of these data, including fossil species, permits the reconstruction of the Tree of Life, which has been identified by Science magazine as one of the 125 top scientific challenges of the new millennium. By documenting phenotypes for tree-building, researchers test major evolutionary hypotheses such as when did a species develop flowers? Or the ability to fly? With tens of millions of species on the planet, organizing this informatino requires substantial creative computer infrastructure. Such infrastructure has existed for genotypic information for some time, initiated in large part by the Human Genome Project in the 20th century. Organizational tools and databases for phenotypes has not, however, received similar attention historically. Thus in 2001, with support from the National Science Foundation, investigators initiated MorphoBank (http://www.morphobank.org/), an open-source Web application and database that has become a modern tool for collecting, organizing, storing and presenting data on phenotypes across the Tree of Life. Because software must continuously change to function in the ever-evolving world of the Internet, this project is to sustain MorphoBank software and infrastructure such that the tool and database endures as a robust resource for the evolutionary biology community and the public.MorphoBank gives scientists a unique digital workspace to collaborate - in real time - with others worldwide and to conduct data collection relevant to the Tree of Life and evolution. Prior success of MorphoBank is underscored by key statistics. Each month scientists record 90,000 observations and load 2,000 newly-generated, curated and annotated images. Over 2,000 visitors reach the site monthly to view projects 3,000 times, matrices 6,000 times, and media 75,000 times. 30% of published projects on MorphoBank are derived from separate NSF-funded geology, biology and anthropology grants. Another 35% of projects hold the research output funded by scientific agencies internationally making MorphoBank a global destination as a tool and archive. Scholarship that would have been impossible before MorphoBank includes the NSF-supported Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) project for mammals. This research was published in Science and included 12,000 images tied to hundreds of thousands of scientific observations by a team of over 20 researchers. The paper received wide press (New York Times, BBC, Time Magazine), including mention of MorphoBank as the research-enabling innovation. Morphobank represents a new element in the US scientific infrastructure, providing a model platform for location-independent global scientific collaboration. Proposed contributions to education and training provided by the current project include: (1) a software course in Web-based bioinformatics for ethnic minority computer science majors from Stony Brook University, New York, (2) two summer internships for selected students from that course, and (3) two "Morpholution" courses at the American Museum of Natural History for high school students to learn scientific practices for studying phenotypes.