Advancing Biodiversity Science Through DNA Barcodes

通过 DNA 条形码推进生物多样性科学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04797
• 负责人: Hebert, Paul
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713217
• 关键词: Advancing; Biodiversity; Science; Through; DNA

For the past 250 years, organisms have been identified through time-consuming morphological inspection, an approach that requires researchers with specialist expertise for each taxonomic group. My research program is transitioning biodiversity science from its analogue past to a digital future, a shift enabled by two methodological and technological advances. Firstly, identification systems based on the analysis of sequence variation in short, standardized gene regions (i.e. DNA barcodes) are very effective in species discrimination. Secondly, high-throughput sequencers permit the inexpensive acquisition of barcode records. Current instruments can generate 5 million reference barcodes a year for less than a dollar apiece, and they can screen bulk samples for their species composition for $0.01 a specimen. These developments are enabling biodiversity surveys at speeds and scales that were previously inconceivable. Because sequencers are doubling their output every nine months, DNA barcoding will soon make it possible to monitor and forecast biotic change on a planetary scale, but considerable work is still required to optimize protocols. Since Canada occupies 7% of our planet's land surface, it provides a good test bed. My work over the next five years has three primary goals. My students and I will extend the DNA barcode reference library for animal species found within Canada with a focus on marine and soil-dwelling invertebrates. While this work proceeds, we will also advance protocols for large-scale biodiversity surveillance. We will begin this effort in 2018 by sampling arthropods in a 150,000 km2 grid across southern Ontario. In subsequent years, this work will be extended to examine arthropod diversity in four additional ecozones. Finally, we will expand our use of barcode data to deepen understanding of factors impacting molecular evolution. Our work will make it possible to monitor shifts in species distribution and abundance in near-real time, first across our nation and then across the planet. This capability is urgently needed to address international obligations to preserve biodiversity. As a consequence, the 196 nations that are signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity endorsed DNA barcoding in December 2015 as a key method for monitoring global trajectories in biodiversity. Our work also has important practical applications as evidenced by the broad adoption of DNA barcoding by the public and private sectors for forensic investigations, for assessing environmental impacts, for authenticating food and natural health products, and for detecting crop pests and invasive species. Aside from these societal benefits, our research will advance biodiversity science by deepening understanding of the factors which impact rates of speciation and molecular evolution.

在过去的250年中，已经通过耗时的形态学检查来确定生物体，这种方法需要每个分类学组具有专业知识的研究人员。我的研究计划是将生物多样性科学从其过去的过去转变为数字未来，这是通过两个方法论和技术进步实现的转变。首先，基于简短标准化基因区域（即DNA条形码）中序列变异分析的识别系统在物种歧视中非常有效。其次，高通量序列仪允许廉价地获取条形码记录。当前的仪器每年可以以不到一美元的价格产生500万个参考条形码，并且可以以每样本0.01美元的价格筛选其物种成分的散装样品。这些发展是在以前无法想象的速度和尺度上实现生物多样性调查。由于音序器每九个月每九个月增加一次输出，因此DNA条形码很快就可以在行星尺度上监测和预测生物变化，但是仍然需要进行大量工作以优化协议。由于加拿大占据了我们星球的土地表面的7％，因此提供了一张良好的测试床。 我未来五年的工作有三个主要目标。我和我的学生将扩展加拿大在加拿大发现的动物物种的DNA条形码参考文献，重点是海洋和土壤无脊椎动物。在进行这项工作的同时，我们还将推进大规模生物多样性监视的协议。我们将在2018年通过在安大略省南部的150,000 km2网格中抽样节肢动物来开始这项努力。在随后的几年中，将扩展这项工作，以检查其他四个生态环境中的节肢动物多样性。最后，我们将扩大对条形码数据的使用，以加深对影响分子进化的因素的理解。 我们的工作将使您可以在近乎现实的时间内，然后在整个地球上监测物种分布和丰度的转变。迫切需要这种能力来解决国际生物多样性的义务。结果，2015年12月，《生物多样性公约》签署的196个国家作为监测生物多样性中全球轨迹的关键方法认可了DNA条形码。我们的工作还具有重要的实际应用，这可以通过公共和私营部门对DNA条形码进行广泛采用，以进行法医调查，评估环境影响，对食品和天然保健产品的认证以及检测作物害虫和入侵物种。除了这些社会利益外，我们的研究还将通过加深对影响物种速率和分子进化的因素的理解来提高生物多样性科学。