PEET: Monographic and Phylogenetic Research on the Saprolegniales (watermolds)

University Of North Carolina At Wilmington, Wilmington NC

Investigators

Abstract

Filamentous microbes belonging to the order Saprolegniales (watermolds) are important environmentally and economically for a great variety of reasons, but the study of these important organisms has been hampered for over 200 years because of the extreme difficulty involved in their identification. This fact probably more than any other has obscured understanding not only of how to control those species that cause devastating plant and animal diseases, but also of the significant environmental benefit that still other species provide. Watermold identification (a component of their systematic biology) historically has been difficult because morphological features used to characterize them overlap significantly between species to the extent that one species usually cannot be distinguished from its close neighbors. It is now recognized, however, that modern DNA technology and gene sequencing techniques offers a much-needed tool for helping to resolve the boundaries between species thus enabling accurate and fast identification. The research program in this Partnership for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) project will employ gene sequencing techniques to define the boundaries between watermold species more precisely and in so doing will revise the systematics of this group such that environmental and economic investigations of watermolds will be made much easier. All products of this research will be freely and openly accessible to the world scientific community on the world-wide-web. Owing to the extreme difficulty of identifying watermolds, young scientists have avoided investigating them, such that there now is a worldwide critical shortage of watermold systematists. A principal objective of the current project is to begin the training of the next generation of watermold systematists using modern techniques that not only will clarify watermold systematics, but also will provide the foundation for answering important "applied" questions about their significance to society and the environment. The investigators have partnered with the Science and Mathematics Education Center of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to develop an educational outreach program to public schools in southeastern North Carolina to better inform the public of the importance of this group and to encourage school-age children to understand the significance, beauty, and excitement not only of watermolds, but also of science in general.