Collaborative Research: Ecological Diversification and Molecular Evolution of Grasses (Poaceae)

科学上已知的草有一万多种。草类迅速繁殖，模糊了它们之间的历史关系。该项目整合了三种广泛的方法来研究草的多样化，使用现代方法来重建草的谱系。下一代DNA测序方法将用于确定至少100个物种的完整叶绿体基因组和核基因组亚区。生物信息学分析将探索DNA序列进化的模式和速率。对植物发育的研究，尤其是对树叶的研究，将被用来检验特定的适应性是否与历史上向新栖息地的迁移有关。禾本科具有重要的经济和生态意义。大米、小麦、玉米和其他谷物提供了人类膳食热量的一半。野草占据了地球陆地景观的25%以上。更好地理解它们之间的关系对于预测草原和谷类作物对环境变化的反应至关重要。序列数据的分析将澄清它们之间的关系，并在进化研究中有广泛的应用。从发展的角度来看，生态适应将得到更好的理解。将建立一个图片丰富的网站，以英语和西班牙语提供内容，提供有关草的结构、分类和进化的信息。草皮关系的新框架和附带的网络资源将吸引广泛的用户，并促进国际合作。

Over 10,000 species of grasses are known to science. Grasses proliferated rapidly, obscuring their historical relationships. This project integrates three broad approaches in a study of grass diversification using contemporary methods to reconstruct the genealogy of the grasses. Next generation DNA sequencing methods will be used to determine complete chloroplast genomes and subregions of the nuclear genome from at least 100 species. Bioinformatics analyses will explore patterns and rates of DNA sequence evolution. Studies of development, especially in leaves, will be used to test whether particular adaptations are correlated with historical migrations into new habitats. Grasses are of fundamental economic and ecological importance. Rice, wheat, maize and other cereals supply half of human dietary calories. Wild grasses predominate over 25% of Earth's terrestrial landscape. A better understanding of their relationships is fundamental to predicting the response of grasslands and cereal crops to environmental change. Analyses of sequence data will clarify relationships and have broad application in evolutionary studies. Ecological adaptations will be better understood when viewed in a developmental context. An image-rich web site will be established, with content in English and Spanish, with information on grass structure, classification, and evolution. The new framework of grass relationships and accompanying web resources will appeal to a broad range of users and promote international collaborations.