我国黄海和东海砂壳纤毛虫的多样性及生物地理学

Study on the community structure and function of marine microzooplankton has become the hot topic in the international eukaryotic microbiological ecological field for a long time. However, as one of the important components, researches on modern taxonomy of tintinnid ciliates are particularly deficient both at home and abroad, resulting in a great knowledge gap in understanding the global biodiversity of this group of organisms, which has greatly restricted the ecological and systematics research of ciliates. Meanwhile, the ecological investigation on the tintinnids in bays seriously lags in China. Therefore, this proposed project will focus on taxonomy and diversity, ecological characterization, and ontogeny as well phylogeny. Main research contents and aims include: 1) to carry out studies on fauna and taxonomy, morphospecies and genetic diversity of tintinnids in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea using classical and modern means, to clarify taxonomic confusion, to establish taxonomic classification and species identification key; 2) to perform ontogeny of some evolutionarily significant taxa and erect ontogenetic patterns of tintinnids; 3) to construct genomic DNA bank of some unknown taxa，to complete sequencing of their mark genes (e.g. SSU rDNA) and sequence data submission to GenBank; 4) to complete phylogenetic analyses and systematic reconstruction of insufficient studied subclass Choreotrichia based on molecular and ontogenetic as well morphological information; 5) to reveal biogeographical distribution characterization of tintinnids in Chinese coastal waters and key environmental factors by means of comparative study of community structure, distribution and seasonal variation of tintinnids from representative bays in different climate zones.

海洋微型浮游动物群落的结构和功能研究始终为国际真核微生物生态学领域的热点。然而，作为重要组分的砂壳纤毛虫，国内外一直欠缺现代分类学研究，由此造成了全球多样性认知严重不足，极大地制约了纤毛虫生态学和系统学研究。同时国内有关该类动物的海湾生态学研究严重缺乏。因此，本项目将聚焦砂壳类的多样性、地理分布、个体与系统发育研究。主要内容和目标包括：1）借助经典、现代分类学手段，研究黄、东海砂壳纤毛虫的区系分类、形态和基因多样性，澄清分类混乱，建立分类图鉴和检索表；2）开展对关键科-属的细胞发生研究，建立砂壳类的个体发生模式；3）构建不明类群的DNA种库，完成SSU rDNA等基因的测序；4）整合分子与个体发育信息，完成对研究极欠缺的环毛亚纲纤毛虫的系统发育关系的重建；5）通过对代表性中小海湾中砂壳纤毛虫的群落结构、时空分布及其变化的比较研究，揭示其在中国近岸海区的生物地理分布特征及其关键影响因子。

海洋微型浮游动物群落的结构和功能研究始终为国际真核微生物生态学领域的热点。然而，作为重要组分的砂壳纤毛虫，国内外一直欠缺现代分类学研究，由此造成了全球多样性认知严重不足，极大地制约了纤毛虫生态学和系统学研究。同时国内有关该类动物的海湾生态学研究严重缺乏。.四年来我们以黄海和东海海岸带为主要采样区域，利用传统的显微观察和细胞学染色方法结合基因测序等现代技术,开展了以砂壳纤毛虫为代表的浮游类群的区系多样性和分布、形态与分子分类、DNA建库和分子系统发育关系及其在代表性海湾的生态分布等研究，取得了一些新成果，为相关学科积累了重要的基础资料。完成了对79种纤毛虫的分类鉴定和形态描述，发现了3个新属、11个新种及8个中国新记录种，首次揭示了3个已知属和23个已知种的纤毛图式特征，并给出了新定义，完成了对6种砂壳纤毛虫的细胞发生学研究。构建了80余种/种群纤毛虫的基因组DNA库，完成了对其中未知的73种群的18S rRNA基因等的测序工作与序列数据提交以及相关类群的分子系统发育之探讨。撰写学术论文16篇，其中已在本领域国际主流刊物上发表11篇。以本项目为依托，课题组新招收硕士生5人和博士研究生7人，毕业博士8人和硕士4人，其中3人次获山东省优秀学位论文奖。资助了49人次参加5次国际和3次国内学术交流会议。