Guelph Researchers Part
of Multi-Million-Dollar Projects

By Lori Bona Hunt

U of G researchers are hoping to use biology to stop a tiny insect that is devastating Canada's forests and forest industry.

They're studying ways to introduce or enhance a virus to limit the damage caused by the spruce budworm - and benefit people and the environment as well.

"If you fly over parts of Canada, you can see gray patches where forests have been destroyed by the spruce budworm," says Prof. Peter Krell, Microbiology, one of the project researchers. "The insect feeds on fir and spruce needles, and the trees eventually die."

The project is one of three national genome research initiatives involving U of G scientists that recently received more than $10 million in support. It also involves Prof. David Evans, chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Basil Arif, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service and an associate graduate faculty member in the Department of Microbiology.

Over the past few decades, the spruce budworm has taken a tremendous toll on Canada's $20-billion-a-year forestry industry. Its population is cyclic, says Krell, and "right now, we're at the beginning of a surge."

With the adverse environmental effects of chemical pesticides, research has turned to controlling the pests through biological agents. The project Krell, Evans and Arif are part of received more than $4.6 million to develop viruses to stop the spruce budworm from reaching its tree-eating caterpillar stage.

"We're using biology to fight biology in a sense," Krell says.

The three researchers are among six at Guelph who will benefit from the funding announced by Genome Canada, the Ontario Genomics Institute and Genome Atlantic. In total, Genome Canada and its regional associations approved 34 new genomics research projects in April, worth $311 million.

A second project involving Guelph researchers aims to bring ethical, legal and social considerations into genomics research, and a third is looking to identify key genes that are responsible for the health and quality of potatoes. Participating faculty are Prof. David Castle, Philosophy; Prof. Karen Finlay, Consumer Studies; and Prof. John Phillips, Molecular Biology and Genetics.

"This is very exciting news for the University of Guelph," says Prof. Alan Wildeman, vice-president (research). "It involves researchers across a broad spectrum and provides them with the opportunity to lend their expertise and participate in the discovery of breakthroughs in genomics."

Working with Arif and other scientists at the Great Lake Forestry Centre of the Canadian Forest Service and Natural Resources Canada in Sault Ste. Marie, Krell and Evans hope to introduce a virus or find ways to make existing viruses more effective against the spruce budworm. The virus would be specific to the insect and not harm other creatures or the environment.

"But to do this, we need to know more about the biology and genomics of these viruses as well as their insect hosts," says Evans.

They will concentrate on studying how the viruses, which specifically infect these insects, function. The work involves sequencing virus genomes, looking at the genes encoded by these viruses and studying how these genes control infection. For example, viral genes may possibly be modified to change the insect's feeding behaviours and protect trees from severe defoliation.

Also working on the project are graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.

The newly funded project on the ethical, legal and social considerations of genomics research involves Finlay, Phillips and Castle, who is the project's co-investigator. They will work to reduce the "genomics divide" between developing and developed countries. This project received more than $2.8 million in support.

"We will be conducting research to ensure that the benefits of the unfolding revolution in health and nutrition genomics and biotechnology, which encompass health and agriculture, are available to all," says Castle, who has an affiliation with the Food System Biotechnology Centre to identify and assess ethical issues posed by research and development of emerging genomics technologies.

The researchers will study ethical strategies in multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies and make recommendations for good business practices. Castle and Finlay will be involved in developing ethical frameworks for genomics as applied to nutrition or "nutrigenomics."

"This is an emerging science that blurs the traditional distinctions among agriculture, medicine and nutritional science," says Castle. "Nutrigenomics offers the potential to enhance the health and nutrition of millions of people."

For example, crops could be developed specifically for developing countries to supply more nutrients, such as rice that is enriched with vitamin A or iron. Diets can also be tailored to meet specific nutritional needs of human populations identified using genomics.

"But there are several ethical concerns that arise in anticipation of nutrigenomics," he adds. Exploring and addressing these concerns is part of the project.

Castle, Finlay and Phillips will also conduct a case study of Guelph's "enviropigs," which produce manure that contains less phosphorus, making the pigs more environmentally friendly. The researchers will look at ethics, consumer concerns, public reaction and other related issues.

"Our project has a very broad focus," says Castle. "It seeks a convergence in genomics, ethical, environment, legal and social research, across health, nutrition, agricultural and environmental applications of genomics and biotechnology."

He is also involved in another large-scale genomics project supported by Genome Canada in Atlantic Canada that received $3 million in support. It will look at the biological targets related to the health and quality of potatoes, which are the fourth most important crop in the world and a major staple food for more than a billion people. The project will consolidate existing genetic information about potatoes and work to identify an anticipated 10,000 further genes.

Castle will work with Guelph PhD graduate Keith Culver, director of the University of New Brunswick's Centre for Social Innovation Research on Intellectual Property and Regulatory/Enforcement Questions.

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