ATOL: Assembling the Tree of Life: Phylogeny of Spiders

【摘要】生命之树的组装：蜘蛛的系统发育美国自然历史博物馆美国自然历史博物馆的Ward Wheeler博士和他的同事Lorenzo Prendini博士（AMNH）、Jonathan Coddington博士（史密森学会国家自然历史博物馆）Gustavo Hormiga博士（乔治华盛顿大学）和Petra Sierwald博士（菲尔德自然历史博物馆）研究蜘蛛的进化史和生物多样性。蜘蛛是地球上最古老、最多样化的陆生生物之一，其化石可以追溯到泥盆纪（约3.8亿年前），目前已描述的物种超过37,500种，分布在3,471属和109科。蜘蛛因其作为昆虫的主要捕食者的生态重要性而脱颖而出。毫不夸张地说，如果没有蜘蛛，害虫的数量将会激增，人类将会受到很大的影响。此外，蜘蛛已经是生物化学（蛛丝蛋白和毒液）、行为（尤其是性行为和织网行为）和生态（觅食、捕食者-猎物系统、综合害虫管理）研究的模式生物。因此，了解它们的进化历史是美国国家科学基金会“组装生命之树”项目的关键组成部分。这个生命之树的目标是通过结合大量新产生的比较基因组数据和大量新的和重新评估的形态学和行为学数据，对蜘蛛体内所有最深的分支产生一个健全的系统发育。pi将使用高通量DNA测序技术来检测至少50个“基因座”，这些“基因座”代表了至少500种蜘蛛及其近亲（刺蝎及其盟友）。由此产生的大型数据矩阵所带来的计算挑战将使用新的计算机软件进行分析，这些软件大部分由小组成员设计，并使用大规模并行处理来实现超级计算能力。研究中包括的这些生物将有目的地包括所有以前最受动物行为学家、生态学家、生理学家、发育生物学家和分子生物学家青睐的研究生物，从而整合和背景化他们的研究。

AbstractAssembling the Tree of Life: Phylogeny of SpidersWard C. Wheeler, Jonathon A. Coddington, Gustavo Hormiga, Lorenzo Prendini, and Petra SierewaldAmerican Museum of natural HistoryA grant has been awarded to Dr. Ward Wheeler of the American Museum of Natural History and his colleagues Dr. Lorenzo Prendini (AMNH), Dr. Jonathan Coddington (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution), Dr. Gustavo Hormiga (George Washington University) and Dr. Petra Sierwald (Field Museum of Natural History) to examine the evolutionary history and biodiversity of spiders. Spiders are among the oldest and most diverse groups of terrestrial organisms on our planet, with fossils dating back to the Devonian (c. 380 million years ago) and a current diversity of over 37,500 described species placed in 3,471 genera and 109 families. Spiders stand out because of their ecological importance as the dominant predators of insects. It is no exaggeration to say that without spiders, insect pest populations would soar and humans would be greatly affected. Furthermore, spiders are already model organisms in biochemical (silk proteins and venom), behavioral (especially sexual and web-building behaviors) and ecological (foraging, predator-prey systems, integrated pest management) research. Accordingly, understanding their evolutionary history is a critical component in the NSF's Assembling the Tree of Life program. The aim of this Tree of Life proposal to produce a robust phylogeny of all the deepest branches within the spiders, by combining a massive amount of newly generated comparative genomic data with a substantial set of new and re-assessed data on morphology and behavior. The PIs will use high-throughput DNA sequencing to examine at least 50 "loci" for representatives of at least 500 genera of spiders and their closest relatives (the whipscorpions and allies). The computational challenges posed by the resulting large data matrices will be analyzed using new computer software, designed in large part by members of the group and using massively parallel processing to achieve supercomputing capability. These organisms included in the study will purposefully include all the previously most-favored study organisms of ethologists, ecologists, physiologists, and developmental and molecular biologists, thus integrating and contextualizing their research.