DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Scalable phylogenomics at the species level: a novel target-gene approach to tracing the global diversification of prorhynchid flatworms (Platyhelminthes)

扁虫是一种种类丰富的掠食性微观无脊椎动物，生活在全球所有地区的湿润土壤和淡水中。然而，就像大多数动物的体型小，结构简单，栖息地隐蔽一样，它们的生物多样性几乎完全没有被现代生物学家研究过。未命名的物种可能比科学上已知的29种物种多出数百种，它们的进化关系基本上是未知的。本论文的研究目的是将全球范围内新发现的和已知的原鼻虫样本与来自许多物种的全基因组DNA序列数据的收集结合起来，首次获得其全球多样化的公正图景。本论文改进资助的目的是支持开发一种新方法，以低成本对任意大量生物体的数百个基因进行测序，这将有助于生物学家分析密切相关物种（生命之树的叶子）的进化关系的方式进行革命。将这种方法应用于原鲷，并向本科生和社区成员展示这些和其他微观无脊椎动物（与当地科学教育组织合作），将有助于进一步吸引科学和公众对这些生物的兴趣，这些生物是全球动物生物多样性中最大的，同时也是最不了解的组成部分。

The prorhynchid flatworms are a diverse and abundant group of predatory microscopic invertebrates living in humid soils and freshwaters on all regions of the globe. However, as is the case with most animals showing small body size, simple anatomy, and cryptic habitats, their biodiversity has gone almost entirely unstudied by modern biologists; unnamed species may outnumber the 29 species known to science by the hundreds, and their evolutionary relationships are essentially unknown. This thesis research aims to combine worldwide sampling of new and known prorhynchids with the collection of genome-wide DNA sequence data from many dozens of species to arrive for the first time at an unbiased picture of their global diversification. The purpose of this dissertation improvement grant is to support the development of a novel method to cheaply sequence hundreds of genes from arbitrarily large numbers of organisms, which will contribute to an ongoing revolution in the way biologists analyze the evolutionary relationships of closely-related species, the leaves of the tree of life. Applying this method to prorhynchids, and showcasing these and other microscopic invertebrates to undergraduate students and community members (in collaboration with a local science education organization), will serve to further engage both scientific and public interest in such organisms, the largest and simultaneously least-understood components of global animal biodiversity.