Collaborative Research: AToL: PorToL - The Porifera Tree of Life Project

合作研究：AToL：PorToL - Porifera 生命之树项目

• 批准号: 0829986
• 负责人: Robert Thacker
• 金额: $ 168.08万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-10-01 至 2014-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0829986&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; AToL; PorToL; Porifera

A grant has been awarded to the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the direction of Dr. Robert W. Thacker for assembling the phylogenetic tree of sponges. Sponges are an ancient animal group with simple body construction. They are extremely efficient at filtering bacteria and other small food particles from the water in which they live, with thousands of different sponge species found in the world's oceans and freshwater habitats. Along with their important ecological roles, sponges can yield potential new medicines and host an extraordinary diversity of microbial life. Despite their widespread presence in aquatic habitats, the study of sponges has lagged behind that of other more charismatic marine fauna. Sponges pose special difficulties for those interested in deciphering their taxonomy, classification, and evolutionary relationships because sponge bodies are quite plastic, varying from one individual to the next. These difficulties hamper progress in basic studies of sponge biology and biodiversity, including comparative studies aimed at understanding the evolution of animals and efforts to conserve or economically exploit aquatic ecosystems. Using molecular genetic data from 8,000 sponge specimens, this project will provide a phylogenetic context that will improve the understanding of all aspects of sponge biology. Proper Incorporation of sponges in the Tree of Life is imperative, because there is wide consensus that sponges comprise the primary trunk leading to more complex animals. Data from this project will test this hypothesis and resolve many "branches" within the sponge tree of life. This project will assist communication and collaboration within the international sponge research community by creating an internet-accessible database. This project will provide numerous outreach and educational opportunities, including undergraduate and graduate student training, intensive field courses, professional workshops, and conference symposia. This project benefits society as a whole by helping to track the origin and distribution of crucial genes (and chemical markers) that are useful in medicine and industry and by establishing new model systems for the study of early animal evolution.

罗伯特·W·塔克（Robert W. Thacker）博士组装了海绵的系统发育树，在伯明翰的阿拉巴马大学授予了一笔赠款。 海绵是一个古老的动物群体，具有简单的身体结构。它们在过滤细菌和其他小食物颗粒中的效率非常有效，在世界海洋和淡水栖息地中发现了数千种不同的海绵物种。除了重要的生态作用外，海绵可以产生潜在的新药物，并具有微生物寿命的非凡多样性。尽管在水生栖息地中广泛存在，但对海绵的研究仍落后于其他更具魅力的海洋动物区系。海绵对那些有兴趣解密其分类法，分类和进化关系的人构成了特殊困难，因为海绵体非常塑料，从一个人到另一个人都有不同。这些困难阻碍了海绵生物学和生物多样性的基础研究的进展，包括旨在了解动物进化的比较研究，以及保护或经济利用水生生态系统的努力。使用来自8,000个海绵标本的分子遗传数据，该项目将提供系统发育环境，以改善对海绵生物学各个方面的理解。在生命树中正确掺入海绵是必须的，因为海绵中有广泛的共识包含导致更复杂动物的主要树干。该项目的数据将检验这一假设，并解决生命的海绵树中的许多“分支”。该项目将通过创建可互联网可访问的数据库来帮助国际海绵研究社区内的沟通和协作。该项目将提供许多宣传和教育机会，包括本科和研究生培训，强化实地课程，专业研讨会和会议研讨会。该项目通过帮助跟踪在医学和工业中有用的重要基因（和化学标记）的起源和分布来使整个社会受益，并通过建立新的模型系统来研究早期动物进化。