AToL: Collaborative Research: Resolving the Trunk of the Angiosperm Tree and 12 of its Thorniest Branches

智力优势：开花植物（被子植物）是最大的（270，000种），最多样化，经济上最重要的绿色植物群。了解被子植物的起源、变异模式和相互关系是一项挑战。尽管取得了进展，但各主要群体之间的关系仍然不清楚，各主要分组内部的关系也不清楚（例如，玫瑰和盟友）。我们的多基因和基因组学方法针对12个有问题的组和亚组，他们的决议应该澄清被子植物的遗传框架。我们还将开发第一个全面的被子植物非DNA数据库，并将其与关键形态特征相结合。总之，我们的方法将为合作构建所有12，000属被子植物的树奠定基础。更广泛的影响：被子植物树将对比较生物学家，包括生理学家，生态学家，古生物学家和基因组学家有用。我们开发的植物学浏览器将提供一个信息学基础设施，将许多数据资源带到用户的桌面上。被子植物形态数据库的建立将为被子植物的类群划分、性状分布分析和化石研究提供便利。我们对博士后研究员和学生的跨学科培训将强调招聘少数民族。我们关于被子植物多样性的网站将对研究人员，K-12教师和学生有价值。我们将为生命之树网络项目构建页面，包括为K-12学生和教师设计的树屋。一个可移动的博物馆展览突出了我们对植物生殖学的理解的进步，将分发给我们项目中的博物馆。将设计和分发详细介绍被子植物树的海报，并制作成CD。将通过向当地公立学校介绍情况来提供更多的宣传。

Intellectual Merit: Flowering plants (angiosperms) are the largest (270,000 species), most diverse, and economically most important group of green plants. Understanding the origin, patterns of variation, and relationships among angiosperms is challenging. Despite progress, relationships among major groups remain unclear, as do relationships within major subgroups (e.g., roses and allies). Our multigene and genomics approaches target 12 problematic groups and subgroups; their resolution should clarify the framework for angiosperm phylogeny. We also will develop the first comprehensive non-DNA database for angiosperms and populate it with key morphological features. Together, our approaches will lay groundwork for collaboratively building the tree of all 12,000 genera of angiosperms. Broader Impacts: The angiosperm tree will be useful to comparative biologists including physiologists, ecologists, paleobiologists, and genomicists. The Botany Browser we develop will provide an informatics infrastructure to bring many data resources to users' desktops. The Angiosperm MorphBank will facilitate group diagnosis, analyses of character distributions, and study of fossils. Our interdisciplinary training of postdoctoral fellows and students will emphasize recruitment of minorities. Our website on angiosperm diversity will be valuable to researchers, K-12 teachers, and students. We will construct pages for the Tree of Life Web Project including TreeHouses designed for K-12 students and teachers. A movable museum exhibit highlighting advances in our understanding of plant phylogeny will be distributed to museums represented in our project. Posters detailing the angiosperm tree will be designed and distributed and made available on CD. Additional outreach will be provided through presentations to local public schools.