Dec 27, 2005 - Claremont, Calif. - The team's project will investigate the origins of the phylum Cnidaria, one the two most primitive groups of animals on earth, which includes such diverse forms as jellyfish, hydra, sea anemones, and corals. The five-year grant will investigate the phylogeny of Cnidaria by developing new molecular markers and gathering large amounts of DNA sequence data from an extensive sampling of Cnidarian taxa. There are more than 10,000 described species of Cnidarians. For the past 10 years McFadden has been using molecular data to try to understand the evolutionary relationships and species boundaries among groups of soft corals from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean and, most recently, the tropical Indo-West Pacific. A number of current and former HMC undergraduates have worked on these projects and are co-authors on a variety of publications that have resulted. The NSF award provides new opportunities for collaborative research among members of the Cnidarian community and training for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Selected HMC students will participate during the summer in molecular biology lab work and the input of historical literature into the database that is housed at the University of Kansas. "In both cases," McFadden noted, "we need students who are meticulous and able to pay close attention to detail. We have no margin for error in extracting DNA from museum specimens in the lab, or entering data into the database." Many of the historical texts are in foreign languages. Other goals of the project are to: characterize and classify nematocysts (the specialized stinging cells of Cnidarians) in a comparative context; develop culture conditions for select Cnidarian species to identify new model organisms for the study of gene expression; build Cnidarian museum collections through field work; assemble a Cnidarian Tree of Life database modeled after the existing Hexacoral database; contribute to museum exhibits on Cnidarian evolution; and hold a symposium on Cnidarian phylogeny. The National Science Foundation describes the Assembling the Tree of Life project thus: A flood of new information, from whole-genome sequences to detailed structural information to inventories of earth's biota, is transforming 21st-century biology. Along with comparative data on morphology, fossils, development, behavior, and interactions of all forms of life on earth, these new data streams make even more critical the need for an organizing framework for information retrieval, analysis, and prediction. Phylogeny, the genealogical map for all lineages of life on earth, provides an overall framework to facilitate information retrieval and biological prediction. Assembly of a framework phylogeny, or Tree of Life, for all 1.7 million described species requires a greatly magnified effort by large teams working across institutions and disciplines. This is the overall goal of the Assembling the Tree of Life activity. In addition to McFadden, whose area of expertise is octocoral phylogeny, the following investigators will take part in the project:
Professor of Biology Catherine McFadden is part of a 10-person team of research scientists from seven colleges and universities and the Smithsonian Institution who will share a $2.85-million grant from the National Science Foundation's Assembling the Tree of Life Program.
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