The Agaricales: Molecular Systematics and Evolution of Mushrooms

9708035 Vilgalys蘑菇是自然界中发现的最明显的真菌类群，具有重要的生态和经济价值。杜克大学的Rytas Vilgalys博士和他在加拿大和美国的同事们的这个项目支持开发一个DNA序列数据库，用于蘑菇真菌及其同类(通常被归入担子菌目的蘑菇目)的分类研究。尽管有很多关于不同蘑菇类群(鳃或孔状菌类、地下“松露”型等)的关系的猜测，但对它们的系统起源或可靠地定义每一种谱系的特征知之甚少。蘑菇的分类传统上依赖于已知或怀疑经历平行或收敛进化的形态特征，或者是物种或属内的表型塑料；因此，许多科被认为是人工组合，以易于识别的特征为关键，但与其生物学的其他特征无关。来自热带、温带和北方地区的500多个代表性物种的核核糖体基因DNA序列的独立数据集，提供了突变差异的测量，然后可以用来构建蘑菇群体的系统发育树。分子序列数据与真菌的传统形态和生活史特征进行比较和整合，将有助于研究人员识别新的或鲜为人知的物种，并为蘑菇生态学和生物学的研究提供比较基础。蘑菇“子实体”的形成、其消化木材和碳水化合物的酶能力以及其一般营养模式(腐生、寄生、互惠)的进化起源和多样性可以在建立物种间系谱联系的良好系统发育框架的背景下以严格的比较方式进行研究。维尔加利博士是这一新的真菌比较生物学领域的领导者之一。

9708035 Vilgalys Mushrooms are among the most conspicuous groups of fungi found in nature, and are of ecological and economic importance. This project by Dr. Rytas Vilgalys of Duke University and his colleagues in Canada and the U.S. supports the development of a DNA sequence data base for taxonomic studies of mushroom fungi and their allies (usually placed in the order Agaricales, of the basidiomycetes). Although there has been much speculation about the relationships of diverse mushroom groups (gilled or poroid forms, underground "truffle" forms, etc.), little is known about their phylogenetic origins or the characters that reliably define each of the lineages. The taxonomy of mushrooms has traditionally relied on morphological features that are known or suspected to be subject to parallel or convergent evolution, or are phenotypically plastic within species or genera; as a result, many families are considered artificial assemblages, keyed to easily recognizable characters that nonetheless do not correlate with other features of their biology. An independent data set of DNA sequences from the nuclear ribosomal genes, from more than 500 representative species sampled from tropical, temperate, and boreal regions, provides for measurement of mutational differences that can then be used to construct phylogenetic trees for mushroom groups. When compared and integrated with traditional morphological and life-history characters of the fungi, the molecular sequence data will aid researchers in the identification of new or poorly known species, and provide a comparative basis for studies on mushroom ecology and biology. The evolutionary origins and diversity of "fruit body" formation in mushrooms, of their enzymatic capabilities for digesting wood and carbohydrates, and of their general nutritional modes (saprophytic, parasitic, mutualistic) can be studied in a rigorous comparative manner in the context of a well-supported phylogenetic framework that establishes the genealogical connections among species. Dr. Vilgalys is one of the leaders in this new comparative biology of fungi.