CAREER: Higher systematics and co-evolution in the Diplostomoidea (Platyhelminthes, Digenea)

双口虫总科的成员是感染人类和野生动物的寄生扁形虫，许多物种在水产养殖和野生动物健康中具有重要意义。双口吸虫具有复杂的生活史，根据生活阶段依次感染一系列宿主。虽然经常遇到，但对特定扁蠕虫的生命周期知之甚少，它们的进化历史也不清楚。这对物种的严格区分是有问题的，反过来又阻碍了了解其生态、保护生物多样性和控制疾病的努力。本计画将利用丰富的基因组学方法，全面分析该超科的演化关系，修正高阶分类学，描述新物种，并配对成虫与幼虫阶段。寄生虫物种之间的关系将与其宿主的关系进行比较，以确定跨生命阶段与宿主的共同进化模式。收集工作将主要在美洲进行，包括迄今为止研究很少的地区和宿主分类群，将对有担保的样本进行形态学研究，并使用桑格和几轮下一代测序进行处理。全基因组测序将用于开发靶向1000个保守基因组元件的探针组，然后将在正在进行和过去收集的剩余样品中选择性测序，以构建稳健的同源性。该探针组将适用于其他非双口吸虫的研究。该项目设在波多黎各，将支持当地的研究生奖学金和一名博士后研究员。本科课程将修改（同行指导，主动学习，研究经验），以增加学习和保留在STEM中代表性不足的少数民族，并提供与项目研究部分有关的数据。该项目由环境生物学部联合资助（系统学和生物多样性科学集群）和既定计划，以刺激竞争性研究（EPSCoR）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。

Members of the superfamily Diplostomoidea are parasitic flatworms that infect humans and wildlife, and many species are of importance in aquaculture and wildlife health. Diplostomoids have complex life cycles, sequentially infecting a series of hosts depending on life stage. While commonly encountered, the life cycles of specific flat worms are poorly understood, and their evolutionary history is unclear. This is problematic for robust discrimination of species, and in turn impedes efforts to understand their ecology, protect biodiversity and control diseases. In this project, a data-rich genomic approach will be used to comprehensively analyze the evolutionary relationships in this superfamily, revise higher taxonomy, describe new species, and match adult and juvenile helminth stages. Relationships among parasite species will be compared to those of their hosts to determine co-evolutionary patters with hosts across life stages. Collections will take place mainly in the Americas, including regions and host taxa little studied to date, and vouchered samples will be studied morphologically and processed using Sanger and several rounds of next-generation sequencing. Whole-genome sequencing will be used to develop a probe set targeting 1000 conserved genomic elements, which will then be selectively sequenced in the remaining samples from ongoing and past collections for the construction of robust phylogenies. The probe set will be applicable and of benefit for the study of other, non-diplostomoid trematodes. The project is based in Puerto Rico and will support local graduate studentships and a postdoctoral researcher. Undergraduate courses will be modified (peer-mentoring, active learning, research experience) to increase learning and retention among underrepresented minorities in STEM, and to yield data relevant to the research component of the project.This project is jointly funded by the Division of Environmental Biology (Systematics and Biodiversity Science Cluster) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.