Project Grant 2405455

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $1,111,398 Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) Project Grant to Arizona State University to conduct research on discovering and characterizing previously unknown orders, classes, phyla, and potentially even kingdoms of eukaryotic protists. The 3-year project, beginning June 1, 2024, will use state-of-the-art single-cell sequencing methods to generate over 500 genomes or transcriptomes of freshwater heterotrophic flagellates, a diverse group of eukaryotic microbes. The goal is to phylogenetically place these newly discovered lineages and improve understanding of eukaryotic evolution and diversification over the last 2 billion years. The research will also engage community college and underserved junior-high students in Phoenix, Arizona to actively participate in the discovery and naming of new protist species. No sub-awards are planned under this grant.