PEET: A Monographic Study of Cordyceps and Related Fungi

冬虫夏草是真菌的一个属，包括500多个种类，是昆虫和真菌的病原体。这项研究将对该属进行专题研究，为识别和描述物种提供更准确的依据。这将涉及对标本的广泛实地收集，并将提高我们对它们在自然界中分布的了解。将从这些生物中收集分子和形态数据，并进行分析，以检验目前仅基于形态的物种假说。冬虫夏草在东亚和北美东部特别丰富，因此该项目将包括与亚洲科学家的合作。这项研究将在真菌分类学方面培训学生和博士后研究助理，真菌分类学是一组研究不足的有机体，需要更多的专业知识和研究人员。该项目还包含一个广泛的万维网组件，通过互联网免费向公众提供所有虫草种类的信息。虫草种类繁多，在农业和医药方面具有重要意义。虫草是昆虫的病原菌，在害虫生物防治中具有广阔的应用前景。生物防治是一个活跃的研究领域，可以减少我们对杀虫剂的依赖和对环境的影响。此外，冬虫夏草和虫草科的许多物种都会产生许多具有致病功能的生物活性化合物。其中一些化合物已经被开发用于医学(例如，来自亚会生链霉菌的环孢菌素A)，但还有无数其他化合物等待发现。对这些真菌的物种边界的准确理解将提供一个预测性框架，以便在生物学的其他领域(例如，生物防治、药物发现等)进行更有针对性和针对性的研究。就可以继续了。

Cordyceps is a genus of fungi that includes over 500 species, which are pathogens of insects and fungi. This study will conduct a monographic study of the genus and will provide a more accurate basis for recognizing and delineating species. It will involve extensive field collecting of specimens and will improve our knowledge of their distributions in nature. Molecular and morphological data will be collected from these organisms and analyzed to test current hypotheses of species based solely on morphology. Cordyceps is particularly abundant in East Asia and eastern North America, thus this project will include collaborations with Asian scientists. This research will train students and postdoctoral research associates in taxonomy of fungi, an understudied group of organisms for which additional expertise and researchers are needed. This project also contains an extensive World Wide Web component with information on all species of Cordyceps made freely available to the public via the Internet.Numerous species of Cordyceps are important in agriculture and medicine. Many species of Cordyceps are pathogens of insects and are promising candidates for biological control of insect pests. Biological control is an active area of research that may lessen our dependence on and environmental impact of pesticides. In addition, many species of Cordyceps and the Clavicipitaceae produce numerous biologically active compounds that function in pathogenicity. Some of these compounds have been exploited for use in medicine (e.g., Cyclosporin A from C. subsessilis), but countless others await discovery. An accurate understanding of the species boundaries of these fungi will provide a predictive framework in which more focused and directed research in other fields of biology (e.g., biological control, drug discovery, etc.) can proceed.