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对生态和系统发育背景下的相关数据进行比较分析，更深入地了解森林和农业景观中生物多样性进化和保护的潜在过程。森林中的生物多样性(通过物种和群落获得的基因)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。林木是森林的主要结构组成部分，其进化受到植物微生物相互作用的影响，而内生真菌(生活在寄主植物组织内而不会引起明显症状的一组真菌)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参与者。分析内生真菌数据以及形态、生物地理、遗传和生态信息，在一个生态和形态多样的林木群体的良好系统发育的框架内，对于彻底理解森林的进化过程至关重要。杨属是一种分布广泛、具有生态和经济意义的林木属，是实现这一途径的理想系统。因此，我建议对杨树的内生真菌微生物组和系统发育进行详细的研究，以深入了解森林景观中生物多样性的演变。作为未来五年的短期目标，我和我的研究团队将：i)基于几乎完整的核和叶绿体基因组的dna序列重建杨属植物的系统发育树(S)，以了解该属的进化历史，并为进化假说检验提供一个框架；ii)描述选定杨树物种内生真菌群落的组成、结构和组装；iii)研究与杨属密切相关的树种是否具有相似的内生真菌微生物群落，表明寄主(杨)系统发育与内生真菌微生物群落之间的相关性(通常称为“系统共生”)；以及iv)研究分离的内生真菌是否表现出宿主偏好作为“生境过滤”的证据。由此产生的系统发育树将允许详细研究杨属的进化趋势，并以杨树为模型严格检验与林木进化有关的假说。这项拟议的内生真菌生物学工作代表了对广泛的杨树物种根部和地上部分真菌群落的详细描述的原创性努力，包括在系统发育和群落生态学框架内的内生真菌群落的杂交和推断组装。该项目将提供一个机会，在植物系统学、进化、微生物学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.