Integrating fossils and genomes to unravel the pattern of mammalian diversification through time.

整合化石和基因组来揭示哺乳动物随时间的多样化模式。

• 批准号: 2390137
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Queen Mary University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2390137
• 关键词: Integrating; fossils; genomes; unravel; pattern

Phylogenetic methods using genomic data have been used with great success to construct and study the evolutionary relationships between extant mammal species. However, due to methodological constraints, morphological data has so far been underutilised and this has become a limiting factor when trying to estimate patterns of divergence and extinction in the evolutionary history of this group. The proposed project aims to use recent advances in Bayesian statistical methods to reconstruct a species-level mammal phylogeny by combining morphology (from extant and extinct species) and genomic data (from extant species) and use the reconstructed phylogeny to unravel patterns of mammal evolution through time. Morphological data will come mainly from CT scan data obtained from previous work and online databases, which will also be supplemented with new scans from museum specimens taken over the course of the project. Genomic data will be obtained from online databases. The advantage of the proposed methodology is that fossil species will be used as dated tips in the phylogenetic reconstruction, which, together with extensive phylogenomic sampling from extant mammals, would provide more information about early mammalian evolution compared to previous studies. This reconstructed phylogeny can then be used to estimate rates of evolution and divergence times in order to place key evolutionary events in their geological/environmental context, allowing us to address a number of important questions, such as the relationship of mammal diversification and extinction to palaeoclimate or to understand the genetic basis of morphological innovation in this group. This could in turn provide useful inferences for the current climate crisis and how it may affect patterns of diversity and evolution in modern mammals and other vertebrates.

使用基因组数据的系统发育方法已成功用于构建和研究现存哺乳动物物种之间的进化关系。然而，由于方法论的限制，形态学数据迄今为止尚未得到充分利用，这已成为试图估计该群体进化史上的分歧和灭绝模式时的限制因素。该项目旨在利用贝叶斯统计方法的最新进展，通过结合形态学（来自现存和灭绝物种）和基因组数据（来自现存物种）来重建物种级哺乳动物系统发育，并利用重建的系统发育来揭示哺乳动物随时间进化的模式。形态学数据将主要来自先前工作和在线数据库获得的 CT 扫描数据，同时还将补充项目过程中博物馆标本的新扫描数据。基因组数据将从在线数据库获得。所提出的方法的优点是，化石物种将在系统发育重建中用作过时的提示，与现有哺乳动物的广泛系统发育采样一起，与以前的研究相比，将提供更多有关早期哺乳动物进化的信息。然后，这种重建的系统发育可用于估计进化速率和分化时间，以便将关键进化事件置于其地质/环境背景中，使我们能够解决许多重要问题，例如哺乳动物多样化和灭绝与古气候的关系，或了解该群体形态创新的遗传基础。这反过来可以为当前的气候危机及其如何影响现代哺乳动物和其他脊椎动物的多样性和进化模式提供有用的推论。