From microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns: modelling long-term evolution driven by ecological adaptation

从微观进化过程到宏观进化模式：模拟生态适应驱动的长期进化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04287
• 负责人: Doebeli, Michael
• 金额: $ 6.92万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=711711
• 关键词: microevolutionary; processes; macroevolutionary; patterns; modelling

Long-term patterns of evolution have captured the imagination of biologists for centuries, and understanding the “tree of life” is a fundamental problem in science. Macroevolutionary patterns such as stasis and adaptive radiations have been extensively analyzed, and it is generally thought that ecological adaptations play an important role for long-term evolution. However, ecological explanations for macroevolutionary patters are still mostly based on verbal theories. Macroevolutionary patterns ultimately result from microevolutionary processes. With the research proposed here, I intend to develop a mathematical theory for macroevolutionary dynamics and phylogenetic analysis that is derived from ecological birth-death processes. I propose to use this theory as a testing ground for existing comparative phylogenetic methods. Finally, I propose to apply novel computational tools to study macroevolution of ecologically important traits on large phylogenetic trees. Specifically: 1) I propose to use adaptive dynamics models incorporating diversification and extinction to classify salient patterns of macroevolutionary dynamics generated by different types of ecological interactions, for varying dimensions of phenotype space, and for different assumptions about the biogeography of the evolving communities. This will yield a general classification of the types of macroevolutionary patterns generated by mechanistic models for long-term evolution. In particular, it will enable a critical evaluation of salient verbal theories for macroevolution. 2) The adaptive dynamics models yield artificial phylogenetic trees that I propose to analyze using a variety of comparative phylogenetic methods in order to test which of these can best explain the phylogenies. This will allow for a comparison of inferences made from comparative methods with the actual ecological processes that generated the phylogenies. This work will also give important insights into the statistical properties of mechanistic models for macroevolution. 3) Microorganisms have shaped the chemistry of Earth's ecosystems, and determining the macroevolutionary patterns of metabolic functions in the prokaryotic tree of life is an important problem. Prokaryotic phylogenies can be extremely large, and their analysis requires novel computational tools. I propose to apply such tools to the problem of the evolution of protein superfamilies along the microbial tree of life.

几个世纪以来，进化的长期模式一直吸引着生物学家的想象力，而理解“生命之树”是科学的一个基本问题。宏观进化模式如停滞和适应性辐射已被广泛分析，一般认为生态适应在长期进化中起着重要作用。然而，对宏观进化模式的生态学解释仍然主要基于语言理论。宏观进化模式最终源于微观进化过程。在这里提出的研究，我打算发展宏观进化动力学和系统发育分析的数学理论，它来源于生态的出生-死亡过程。我建议将这一理论作为现有的比较系统发育方法的试验场。最后，我建议应用新的计算工具来研究生态重要性状在大型系统发育树上的宏观进化。具体而言：1)我建议使用包含多样化和灭绝的自适应动力学模型来分类由不同类型的生态相互作用产生的宏观进化动力学的显著模式，用于不同的表型空间维度，以及关于进化群落的生物地理的不同假设。这将产生由长期进化的机制模型产生的宏观进化模式类型的一般分类。特别是，它将使显着的宏观进化语言理论的批判性评价。2)自适应动力学模型产生人工系统发生树，我建议使用各种比较系统发生方法对其进行分析，以测试哪一种方法可以最好地解释系统发生。这样就可以将比较方法得出的推论与产生系统发育的实际生态过程进行比较。这项工作也将为宏观进化的机制模型的统计特性提供重要的见解。微生物塑造了地球生态系统的化学性质，确定原核生物生命树中代谢功能的宏观进化模式是一个重要问题。原核生物的系统发育可能非常庞大，它们的分析需要新颖的计算工具。我建议将这些工具应用于沿着微生物生命之树的蛋白质超家族的进化问题。