DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Diversification and species delimitation in lizard malaria parasites

论文研究：蜥蜴疟原虫的多样化和物种界定

• 批准号: 1210547
• 负责人: Susan Perkins
• 金额: $ 1.45万
• 依托单位: American Museum Natural History
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1210547&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Diversification; species; delimitation

Malaria parasites in the genus Plasmodium are well known as causing disease in humans, but half of the roughly 200 species in this genus use lizards as their vertebrate hosts, and many of these species can be found in lizards in Panama. These parasites have been the focus of studies on ecology, epidemiology, and behavior, but their taxonomic classifications and patterns of diversification remain unclear, and this has hindered their use as a model for studying disease. The first goal of this study is to resolve the taxonomy of these Panamanian parasites. Malaria parasite species are traditionally classified based on differences in their morphology, but the simple and changing morphology of the Panamanian species has confounded taxonomists for decades. Their taxonomy will be revised by analyzing genetic information using novel species-delimitation methods. The second goal of this study is to clarify the patterns of diversification in the widespread lizard parasite Plasmodium floridense. It is distributed in southern North America, throughout the Caribbean, and in Middle America, but like most malaria parasites, its history of colonization remains unknown. Newly collected samples from Panama will be combined with previously collected samples from across the parasite?s range, and these will be used to elucidate the parasite?s pattern of diversification. The results of this research will be disseminated broadly and used to promote teaching and learning. Curriculum materials will be developed in partnership with the Gottesman Center at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to be used in New York City high school biology classrooms. Lectures and laboratory activities will also be developed as part of the Science Research Mentoring Program at the AMNH. Both will introduce urban high school students to the vast diversity of parasite species from across the tree of life. Finally, results of this research will be posted over several entries on two blogs, each of which is well established and has a wide readership, to facilitate the dissemination of the research to the general public.

疟原虫中的疟疾寄生虫众所周知是引起人类疾病的疾病，但是该属的大约200种种类中有一半将蜥蜴用作其脊椎动物宿主，其中许多物种可以在巴拿马的蜥蜴中找到。 这些寄生虫一直是关于生态学，流行病学和行为的研究的重点，但是它们的分类学分类和多样化的模式尚不清楚，这阻碍了它们用作研究疾病的模型。 这项研究的第一个目标是解决这些巴拿马寄生虫的分类法。 传统上，疟疾寄生虫物种是根据其形态的差异而分类的，但是几十年来，巴拿马物种的简单和变化的形态使分类学家混淆了。 他们的分类法将通过使用新型的物种剥夺方法分析遗传信息来修订。 这项研究的第二个目标是阐明广泛的蜥蜴寄生虫疟原虫的多样化模式。 它在整个加勒比海地区和中美洲分布，但与大多数疟疾寄生虫一样，其殖民历史仍然未知。 来自巴拿马的新收集的样品将与先前从寄生虫范围内收集的样品结合使用，这些样品将用于阐明寄生虫的多样化模式。 这项研究的结果将被广泛传播，并用于促进教学。 课程材料将与美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）的Gottesman Center合作开发，将在纽约市高中生物学教室中使用。 讲座和实验室活动也将作为AMNH科学研究指导计划的一部分开发。 两者都将向城市高中生介绍来自整个生命树的大量寄生虫物种。 最后，这项研究的结果将在两个博客上的几个条目上发布，每个博客都建立了良好，并且具有广泛的读者群，以促进将研究传播给公众。