Collaborative proposal: The foundation of terrestrial life: Inferring a total-evidence timeline of vascular plant evolution

合作提案：陆地生命的基础：推断维管植物进化的全证据时间表

• 批准号: 1754385
• 负责人: Michael Sundue
• 金额: $ 9.37万
• 依托单位: University of Vermont & State Agricultural College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-05-01 至 2023-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1754385&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; proposal; foundation; terrestrial; life

This project will determine when vascular plants evolved and how they are related. Vascular plants include lycopods, ferns and their allies, as well as conifers and flowering plants. They form the foundation of nearly all terrestrial ecosystems and our food supply, yet scientists disagree about when and how they evolved. Current methods for estimating evolutionary timelines for these species have led to conflicting answers, as they rely on the ability of researchers to assign extinct fossil species correctly to particular branch points in the tree of life. This assignment is challenging to do because extinct species may have morphology that can be interpreted differently. Researchers will refine a new data analysis method to address this limitation. They will compare the DNA sequences of living vascular plants and incorporate morphological data from both living and extinct species to reconstruct their evolutionary relationships. During this process, researchers will apply new computer algorithms to estimate the evolutionary timeline for the species. Researchers will train undergraduate and graduate students, including members of under-represented groups, and support the professional development of an early-career researcher. They will educate the public about plant evolution by creating an interpretive exhibit at the University of California Berkeley and by producing a series of online video lessons for high school students and educators.This project will develop a new total-evidence dating method to reconstruct the next-generation of time-calibrated phylogenetic hypotheses that incorporate both extinct and extant species. Researchers will leverage DNA sequence data collected by an existing NSF award to reconstruct a backbone phylogeny of ca. 300 extant vascular plants using nuclear genomic data. They will also collect morphological data for ca. 300 traits from these species as well as ca. 200 extinct fossil species. These data will be simultaneously integrated by the software program RevBayes to infer a time-calibrated phylogeny. This program combines sophisticated tree-shape priors, powerful models of morphological evolution, and recently developed methods for relaxing the molecular clock. Project outcomes will include a robust estimate of vascular plant divergence times and patterns of morphological evolution with an explicit measure of the full associated uncertainty of that estimate. The project will support research by sharing new and legacy morphological datasets in the online, open-access PROTEUS database and by hosting a training workshop focused on refining the theory and practice of divergence-time dating. Research will strengthen collaborations among US and international scientists.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将确定维管植物何时进化以及它们之间的关系。维管植物包括石松类、蕨类植物及其亲缘植物，以及针叶树和开花植物。它们构成了几乎所有陆地生态系统和我们食物供应的基础，但科学家们对它们何时以及如何进化存在分歧。目前估计这些物种进化时间表的方法导致了相互矛盾的答案，因为它们依赖于研究人员将灭绝的化石物种正确分配到生命树中特定分支点的能力。这项任务是具有挑战性的，因为灭绝的物种可能具有可以不同解释的形态。研究人员将改进一种新的数据分析方法来解决这一限制。他们将比较活的维管植物的DNA序列，并结合活的和灭绝的物种的形态数据，以重建它们的进化关系。在这个过程中，研究人员将应用新的计算机算法来估计该物种的进化时间轴。研究人员将培训本科生和研究生，包括代表性不足的群体的成员，并支持职业生涯早期的研究人员的专业发展。他们将通过在加州伯克利大学创建一个解释性展览和为高中生和教育工作者制作一系列在线视频课程来教育公众关于植物进化的知识。该项目将开发一种新的全证据年代测定方法，以重建下一代时间校准的系统发育假说，该假说将灭绝和现存物种纳入其中。研究人员将利用现有NSF奖项收集的DNA序列数据来重建CA的骨架遗传学。300现存的维管植物使用核基因组数据。他们还将收集ca的形态学数据。这些物种的300个特征以及CA。200种灭绝的化石物种这些数据将由软件程序RevBayes同时整合，以推断时间校准的概率。该程序结合了复杂的树形先验，形态进化的强大模型，以及最近开发的放松分子钟的方法。项目成果将包括一个强大的估计维管植物的分歧时间和模式的形态演变与明确的措施，该估计的全部相关的不确定性。该项目将支持研究工作，在开放访问的在线PROTEUS数据库中分享新的和遗留的形态数据集，并主办一个培训讲习班，重点是完善发散时间测年的理论和实践。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Inferring the Total-Evidence Timescale of Marattialean Fern Evolution in the Face of Model Sensitivity.

• DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syab020
• 发表时间: 2021-10-13
• 期刊: Systematic biology
• 影响因子: 6.5
• 作者: May MR;Contreras DL;Sundue MA;Nagalingum NS;Looy CV;Rothfels CJ
• 通讯作者: Rothfels CJ