PEET: Phylogenetic and Monographic Research on Spizellomycetalean Chytrids (Chytridiomycota)

壶菌用后单鞭毛游动孢子繁殖，通常认为仅限于水生生境。然而，大量的壶菌几乎可以从任何土壤样本中提取出来，在那里它们腐烂碎片并寄生于其他微生物。阿拉巴马大学的Martha Powell和Peter Letcher以及缅因州大学的Joyce Longcore提议使用多基因序列和游孢子的超微结构特征来分析Spizellomycetales目的土壤壶菌。这些研究人员将培养三名研究生，作为现代壶菌系统学方法的下一代专家。对新专家的需求是巨大的，因为最后的专著治疗壶菌是45年，是过时的。研究人员将探索系统发育物种概念在棘菌科壶菌中的应用。作为该项目的成果，学员将编写关于棘菌属的现代专著和新发现分类群的描述。该项目将为基因库提供新的土壤壶菌序列，在分子环境研究中具有重要价值。扩大后的Chytrid PEET网站将广泛提供信息和图像。PEET学员将获得教学法和视频制作方面的新技能，为中学生制作学习模块，传播对壶菌和真菌生物多样性的认识。总的来说，这些努力将使壶菌更广为人知，它们的识别问题更少，从而更好地理解它们在环境中的重要性。

Chytrid fungi reproduce with posteriorly uniflagellate zoospores and are commonly considered limited to aquatic habitats. Yet an abundance of chytrids can be extracted from almost any soil sample where they decay debris and parasitize other microbes. Martha Powell and Peter Letcher, at The University of Alabama, and Joyce Longcore, at The University of Maine, propose to use multigene sequences and zoospore ultrastructural characters to analyze soil chytrids in the Order Spizellomycetales. These researchers will train three graduate students as the next generation of experts in modern methods of chytrid systematics. The need for new experts is great because the last monographic treatment of chytrids is 45 years old and is outdated. Investigators will explore the application of the phylogenetic species concept to spizellomycetalean chytrids. As outcomes of this project, trainees will produce modern monographs of spizellomycetalean genera and descriptions of newly discovered taxa. This project will contribute new sequences of soil chytrids to GenBank, valuable in molecular environmental studies. An expanded Chytrid PEET website will make information and images widely available. PEET trainees will gain new skills in pedagogy and video production, generating learning modules for middle school children that transmit an appreciation for chytrids and fungal biodiversity. The totality of these efforts will make chytrids better known and their identification less problematic, leading to a better understanding of their importance in the environment.