Molecular Systematic Investigation of Rust Fungi Associated with Pinaceae

锈菌是植物病原体， 松树的几种重要经济病害及其 针叶树的亲戚 本文对锈菌的分类和系统发育进行了综述。 有争议的是，因为生物体很小， 形态上的差异，它们有着复杂的生命 有几个孢子阶段的历史。 托马斯布伦斯博士 加州大学伯克利分校将利用现代分子 研究锈菌之间进化关系的技术 黑盘菌科的真菌。 他已经开发 允许特异性扩增DNA的方法， 大量的真菌材料，甚至来自保存的标本， 通过这种改进，植物宿主DNA将不再干扰 对真菌的研究 许多物种的核基因和线粒体基因 将分析锈菌的核苷酸序列， 这些数据将通过计算机程序进行比较， 相关物种的系统发育框架。 系统发育 因此，为真菌构建的，然后将与当前的 松树物种遗传学的概念，以测试真菌 寄生虫和寄主松树的进化 （“共同进化”）。 此外该 分子分析将提供独特的遗传标记， 个别锈菌物种，有价值的目的，准确的 在其他分类学和生态学研究中鉴定。

The rust fungi are plant pathogens that are responsible for several economically important diseases of pines and their conifer relatives. The taxonomy and phylogeny of rust fungi are controversial because the organisms are small, with few discernible morphological differences, and they have complex life histories with several spore-bearing stages. Dr. Thomas Bruns of the University of California-Berkeley will use modern molecular techniques to investigate evolutionary relationships among rust fungi of the major family Melampsoraceae. He has developed methods that allow specific amplification of DNA from small amounts of fungal material, even from preserved specimens, and with this refinement plant-host DNA will no longer interfere with the study of the fungus. Selected nuclear and mitochondrial genes of numerous species of rust fungi will be analyzed for their nucleotide sequences, and these will be compared using computer programs to generate a likely phylogenetic framework for related species. The phylogeny thus constructed for the fungi will then be compared to current notions of pine species phylogeny to test the idea that fungal parasites and host pines have evolved in association ("coevolution") through geological time. In addition, the molecular analyses will provide unique genetic markers of individual rust-fungus species, valuable for purposes of accurate identification in other taxonomic and ecological studies.