猎蝽科线粒体基因组学及主要类群高级阶元系统发育研究

猎蝽科是半翅目第三大科，已知约25亚科近7000种，多为捕食性种类，是许多重要农林害虫的天敌；部分锥猎蝽叮人吸血，转播查加斯病，是重要的世界性卫生害虫。猎蝽形态特征和生物学习性复杂，亚科分化程度居异翅亚目之首；近期的研究表明其线粒体基因组结构具有丰富的多样性，是研究线粒体基因重排进化的重要类群。该科高级阶元的分类系统已争议近两个多世纪，至今仍存在不同的观点；缺乏对其高级阶元进化关系的全面认知与共识。本项目拟利用高通量测序方法对猎蝽主要亚科进行线粒体基因组测序，揭示其线粒体基因组结构的多样性；基于线粒体基因组序列，重建其高级阶元的系统发育关系和进化历史。在该进化框架下，通过比较基因组学、生物信息学及支序分类学的方法，分析猎蝽线粒体基因组的进化方式，探讨基因重排的机制。研究结果将有助于理解昆虫线粒体基因组的进化及猎蝽科昆虫的起源和演化，对重要天敌多样性的保护利用有重要的理论和实践意义。

With roughly 7000 described species in 25 subfamilies, Reduviidae, the assassin bugs, are the third largest family within the order Hemiptera. The great majority of assassin bugs prey on other arthropods and are the natural enemies of many insect pests. Several species in the subfamily Triatominae feed on human blood as vectors of Chagas disease and are the worldwide medical pests. Assassin bugs have complex morphological characters and biological habits, and the diversification of subfamilies is the highest in the suborder Heteroptera. With diverse organization of mitochondrial genomes found in the recent studies, these insects play an important role in the study of the evolution of mitochondrial gene rearrangement. The high-level phylogeny of the Reduviidae have been debated for over two centuries and lacking a comprehensive evolutionary framework drastically impedes the relative studies. In this project, we propose to explore the diversity of mitochondrial genomic organization of Reduviidae with large-scale taxon sampling and the use of next-generation sequencing technology; and reconstruct the high-level phylogeny and evolutionary history of the major lineages in Reduviidae based on the mitochondrial genome sequences. Combined with methods from the comparative genomics, bioinformatics and cladistics, we will analyze the evolutionary pattern of assassin bug mitochondrial genomes and discuss the mechanism of gene rearrangement. The results will help to better understand the evolution of insect mitochondrial genomes and the origin and evolutionary history of the Reduviidae, and also provide both theoretical and practical significance for conservation and utilization of important natural enemies.