Collaborative Research: AFTOL: Resolving the Evolutionary History of the Fungi

该项目将支持一组研究人员，他们试图解决真菌内部的进化关系。这项研究将通过解决主要真菌类群之间的进化关系来加强对真菌古代进化多样性的理解。这项研究将开发整合的分子和形态数据集，这些数据集将在Web上免费获取。分子数据将包括76个目标基因的序列，这些基因是通过对已知真菌基因组的分析确定的。形态数据将包括与核和细胞分裂相关的特征以及菌丝的形态组织。此外，这项研究将开发形态特征的本体论，以促进跨不同生物的进一步采样和分析集成。真菌是主要的生命群体之一，估计有大约150万个物种的多样性。这些生物扮演着至关重要的生态角色，如分解者、互惠互利者、寄生虫和病原体，包括人类的病原体。真菌的经济意义几乎是不可估量的，因为它们发挥着基本的生态功能，并影响着包括农业、医学和药物研发在内的各种应用学科。更好地了解真菌的早期进化史，对于扩大我们对地球生命历史及其生态系统进化的知识是必要的。真菌的系统基因组分析和数据库将改变比较真菌生物学领域，并将使依赖于对真菌进化关系和多样性的准确理解的所有真菌生物学领域受益。将开发的用于管理和分析系统基因组数据的生物信息学工具将广泛适用于整个生命树。培训和外展活动将包括研究生和博士后培训、本科生培训以及与K-12教育工作者的外展。

This project will support a team of investigators who seek to resolve evolutionary relationships within the fungi. The research will enhance understanding of the ancient evolutionary diversification of the fungi by addressing evolutionary relationships among the major groups of fungi. This study will develop integrated molecular and morphological datasets, which will be freely accessible on the Web. Molecular data will include sequences from a target set of 76 genes that were identified from analyses of known fungal genomes. Morphological data will include characters associated with nuclear and cellular division and the morphological organization of hyphae. In addition the study will develop ontologies for morphological characters to promote further sampling and analytical integration across disparate organisms. Fungi make up one of the major groups of life, with an estimated diversity of approximately 1.5 million species. These organisms play crucial ecological roles as decomposers, beneficial mutualists, and parasites and pathogens, including pathogens of humans. The economic significance of fungi is almost incalculable as they perform essential ecological functions and impact diverse applied disciplines, including agriculture, medicine, and drug discovery. A better understanding of the early evolutionary history of the Fungi is necessary to expand our knowledge of the history of life of Earth and the evolution of its ecosystems. Phylogenomic analyses and databases for fungi will transform the field of comparative fungal biology and will benefit all fields of fungal biology that rely on an accurate understanding of evolutionary relationships and diversity of Fungi. The bioinformatics tools for managing and analyzing phylogenomic data that will be developed will be broadly applicable across the Tree of Life. Training and outreach activities will include graduate and post-doctoral training, undergraduate training, and outreach to K-12 educators.