Dynamic evolution of mutation rates: causes and impacts on genomic analysis

该项目旨在阐明突变率变异在推动进化变化中的作用。突变率是流行病学、自然保护和医学等重要应用中进化分析的核心参数，但它仍然是一个被赋予任意普遍价值的“黑盒子”。该项目将采用整体生物多样性的方法来理解形成突变率的力量，对生物多样性进化的影响以及对系统发育分析的准确性和精确性的影响。通过对澳大利亚的案例研究，本项目的预期结果将是更好地了解物种间突变率的变化，为开发更复杂、更可靠的系统发育分析提供重大好处。

This project aims to illuminate the role of variation in mutation rate in driving evolutionary change. Mutation rate is a core parameter in evolutionary analyses in essential applications including epidemiology, conservation and medicine, yet remains a “black box” given arbitrary universal values. This project will take a whole-of-biodiversity approach to understanding the forces shaping mutation rate, impact on evolution of biodiversity and effect on accuracy and precision of phylogenetic analyses. Using Australian case studies, the expected outcome of this project will be a greater understanding variation in mutation rate between species, providing significant benefits in developing more sophisticated and reliable phylogenetic analyses.