Evolution and conservation of biodiversity in forest and agricultural landscapes:insights from phylogeny and endophytic fungal microbiome of the forest tree genus Populus

我的研究计划的长期目标是通过在生态和系统发育背景下的相关数据的比较分析，获得在森林和农业景观生物多样性的进化和保护的过程的基础上有更深入的了解。森林中的生物多样性（通过物种和群落的基因）在为我们提供清洁水、空气、食物和住所等生态系统服务方面发挥着至关重要的作用。森林的主要结构组成部分林木的进化受到植物微生物相互作用的影响，内生真菌（生活在宿主植物组织内而不引起明显症状的真菌群）正在成为塑造林木进化轨迹和森林景观整体生物多样性的重要角色。分析内生真菌的数据沿着形态，地理，遗传和生态信息的框架内，很好地解决了一个生态和形态多样的森林树木组的系统发育是至关重要的，在森林的进化过程的透彻理解。分布广泛、具有重要生态和经济价值的杨树属是实现这一目标的理想系统。因此，我建议进行详细的研究内生真菌微生物组和杨树，以获得深入了解森林景观生物多样性的演变。作为未来五年的短期目标，我沿着我的研究团队将i）基于几乎完整的核和叶绿体基因组的DNA序列重建杨树属的系统发育树，以了解该属的进化历史，并为进化假设检验提供框架，ii）表征选定的杨树属物种中内生真菌群落的组成，结构和组装，iii）调查密切相关的杨属物种是否具有相似的内生真菌微生物群系，其显示宿主（杨属）植物发生与内生真菌微生物群系之间的相关性，通常称为“系统共生”，以及iv）调查分离的内生真菌是否显示宿主偏好作为“栖息地过滤”的证据。由此产生的系统发育树将允许详细检查属内杨树的进化趋势，并严格测试的假设有关的进化杨树作为一个模型。拟议的内生真菌生物学的工作代表了一个原始的努力，详细描述了真菌群落的根和气生部分的广泛的杨树品种，包括杂交种和推断组装内生真菌群落的系统发育和社区生态框架。该计划将提供一个机会，在植物系统学，进化，微生物和生物多样性保护领域培训至少14名下一代研究专业人员，为满足加拿大的环境和社会经济需求做出贡献。

The long term goal of my research program is to gain a deeper understanding of the processes underlying the evolution and conservation of biodiversity in forest and agricultural landscapes through comparative analyses of relevant data in ecological and phylogenetic context. The biodiversity (genes through species and communities) in forests plays a vital role in providing us with ecosystem services such as clean water, air food and shelter. The evolution of forest trees, the major structural component of forests, is influenced by plant microbe interactions, and endophytic fungi (group of fungi living inside host plant tissues without causing visible symptoms) are emerging as important players in shaping the evolutionary trajectory of forest trees and overall biodiversity in forest landscapes. Analyzing endophytic fungal data along with morphological, biogeographical, genetic and ecological information within a framework of well resolved phylogeny of an ecologically and morphologically diverse group of forest trees is crucial for a thorough understanding of the evolutionary process in forests. The widely distributed, ecologically and economically important forest tree genus Populus is an ideal system for such an approach. Thus, I propose to conduct detailed studies of the endophytic fungal microbiome and phylogeny of Populus to gain insights into the evolution of biodiversity in forest landscapes. As short term objectives over the next five years, I along with my research team will i) Reconstruct robust phylogenetic tree(s) of the genus Populus based on DNA sequences of nearly complete nuclear and chloroplast genomes to understand the evolutionary history of the genus and provide a framework for evolutionary hypotheses testing, ii) Characterize the composition, structure and assembly of endophytic fungal communities in selected Populus species, iii) Investigate if closely related Populus species harbor similar endophytic fungal microbiome showing a correlation between host (Populus) phylogeny and endophytic fungal microbiomes commonly referred as “Phylosymbiosis” and iv) Investigate if isolated endophytic fungi show host preference as an evidence for “habitat filtering”. The resulting phylogenetic trees will allow detailed examination of evolutionary trends within the genus Populus, and rigorous testing of hypotheses related to the evolution of forest trees using Populus as a model. The proposed endophytic mycobiomics work represents an original effort of detailed characterization of fungal communities in both root and aerial parts of a wide range of Populus species including hybrids and infers assembly of endophytic fungal communities within a phylogenetic and community ecology framework. This program will provide an opportunity to train at least 14 next generation research professionals in the areas of plant systematics, evolution, microbiomics and biodiversity conservation, contributing to fulfil environmental and socioeconomic needs of Canada.