Collaborative Research: Bees of the World - Phylogenomics, Biogeography, and Evolution of Host-Plant Associations

蜜蜂对农业，粮食安全和自然生态系统的保护至关重要，因为它们的授粉服务。地球上325，000种开花植物中有85%以上依赖动物授粉，其中绝大多数是由蜜蜂进行的。仅在美国，蜜蜂就负责130种作物的商业生产，每年创造超过110亿美元的收入。蜜蜂对自然和人类福祉的价值是非常清楚的。蜜蜂和开花植物之间的伙伴关系形成于1亿多年前，从那时起，蜜蜂已经辐射到全球20，000多个不同的物种，其中许多是特定植物物种或家族的专业授粉者。蜜蜂生物多样性的研究是迫切需要的，因为越来越多的证据表明，一些蜜蜂物种正在下降，蜜蜂多样性，分布和家庭关系的基线知识是不完整的。“世界蜜蜂”项目有可能大大提高对蜜蜂生物多样性的认识，并制定一份解释蜜蜂主要特征的指南，如蜜蜂与寄主植物的关系。通过利用DNA测序技术的最新进展，将首次生成蜜蜂的综合生命树，为研究蜜蜂多样性及其与植物的关系提供一个框架。为了传播成果和一般蜜蜂知识，该项目将与专业和非专业受众开展多种外联工作。活动包括创建一个虚拟的蜜蜂课程，教授分子方法研讨会，并与犹他州自然历史博物馆合作，开发以传粉者为重点的展览和青年教育活动。该项目将使用尖端的分子和分析方法，并与全球合作者网络合作，为蜜蜂组装一个全面的传粉者基因组数据集。该项目的目标是：（1）解决高层次蜜蜂遗传学和分类中剩余的不确定性，（2）结合化石重建蜜蜂的全球地理学历史，揭示蜜蜂多样性的起源和传播，（3）分析蜜蜂和低层次分类学目标分支的宿主植物使用模式，揭示宿主植物专业化如何演变和影响蜜蜂多样化的速度。为了更有信心地解决蜜蜂的遗传问题，研究小组将使用下一代DNA测序方法和新的实验室方法对来自地球仪的蜜蜂物种进行测序。该项目将生成大多数蜜蜂属的低覆盖率基因组和3,000多个物种的超保守元素（UCE）数据，填补采样空白。由此产生的蜜蜂遗传学将作为一个框架，研究蜜蜂分类，地理学和寄主植物进化。蜜蜂化石，分布和寄主植物信息的综合数据库将被创建并提供给其他研究人员。结合项目各个组成部分的结果，将全面了解蜜蜂如何随着时间的推移而多样化和分散，以及它们与植物的伙伴关系如何塑造它们的进化轨迹。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bees are vitally important to agriculture, food security, and the preservation of natural ecosystems due to their pollination services. Over 85% of the 325,000 flowering plant species on the planet depend on animal pollination and the vast majority is carried out by bees. In the U.S.A. alone bees are responsible for the commercial production of 130 crop plants, generating over $11 billion in annual revenue. The value of bees to nature and human well-being is abundantly clear. The partnership between bees and flowering plants formed over 100 million years ago, and since that time, bees have radiated globally into an astounding 20,000+ different species, many of which are specialist pollinators of particular plant species or families. The study of bee biodiversity is urgently needed because there is growing evidence that some bee species are in decline and baseline knowledge of bee diversity, distribution, and family relationships is incomplete. The Bees of the World project has the potential to significantly improve knowledge of bee biodiversity and to establish a guide to interpret key traits of bees, such as their host-plant associations. By utilizing recent advances in DNA sequencing technology, a comprehensive tree-of-life for bees will be generated for the first time, providing a framework from which to study bee diversity and their relationships with plants. To disseminate results and general bee knowledge, the project will engage in multiple outreach efforts with professional and non-professional audiences. Activities include creation of a virtual bee course, teaching of a molecular methods workshop, and, in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Utah, development of exhibits and youth education activities focused on pollinators.The project will use cutting edge molecular and analytical methods and engage a global network of collaborators to assemble a comprehensive phylogenomic dataset for bees. The project aims are to: (1) resolve remaining uncertainties in higher-level bee phylogeny and classification, (2) incorporate fossils to reconstruct the global biogeographic history of bees, revealing the origin and spread of bee diversity over time, and (3) analyze patterns of host-plant use across bees and for targeted clades at lower taxonomic levels, revealing how host-plant specialization has evolved and impacted rates of diversification in bees. To resolve the phylogeny of bees with improved confidence, the research team will use next-generation DNA sequencing approaches and novel laboratory methods to sequence bee species from across the globe. The project will generate low coverage genomes for most bee genera and ultraconserved element (UCE) data for over 3,000 species, filling in sampling gaps. The resulting bee phylogeny will serve as a framework to study bee classification, biogeography, and host-plant evolution. Comprehensive databases of bee fossil, distribution, and host-plant information will be created and made available to other researchers. Combining results from each component of the project will provide a comprehensive understanding of how bees have diversified and dispersed over time and how their partnership with plants has shaped their evolutionary trajectory.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.