Researchers take new look through Darwin's lens

BY ANDREW VOWLES

Prof. Brian Husband surveys the new science complex greenhouses, where U of G scientists will bring varied interests together to study problems along the full spectrum from genes to populations. Photo by Martin Schwalbe

Mention bird flu, and many people think instantly of a potential disease epidemic. Prof. Brian Husband, Integrative Biology, sees that and something more. Talk about ways of countering the possibility of a mutant avian flu virus sweeping through human populations, and you're discussing an example of applied evolution — a guiding theme in the development of an expansive research suite of greenhouses and growth chambers nearing completion on the top floor of the University's science complex, says the U of G biologist.

From thwarting disease-causing organisms to developing new strains of crop plants and farmed fish to designing bioproducts in the laboratory, applied evolution links the microscopic world of genetics and molecular biology with the larger field of population biology and ecology, says Husband. Call it a fusion of genomics and ecology, as in the subtitle of a $4-million grant awarded to Guelph in 2004 by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Including matching funds from the Ontario Innovation Trust and in-kind contributions from U of G and private donations, the total award exceeded $10 million.

Guelph researchers are using that money to equip some 10,000 square feet of research space atop the science complex. Those signature rooftop greenhouses and the adjoining suite of controlled-environment chambers resemble facilities used elsewhere on campus — notably in the Crop Science, Bovey and Axelrod buildings — to study plants for the greenhouse trade and potential space missions alike.

But peer more closely through that greenhouse glass. You'll find researchers looking at hands-on problems through a lens crafted by a Victorian-era scientist who knew nothing about DNA but who shaped understanding of how populations of living things evolve, from animals to food crops to disease-causing bugs.

“Evolutionary biology is taking on more importance, but most people don't really realize that,” says Husband, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Ecological Genetics. “Evolution itself is simply genetic change. From increased pathogen virulence to antibiotic resistance and breeding of new varieties, society is not only surrounded by the effects of evolution but we, in fact, are also agents of it. If, however, we are to manage this process and our evolutionary impacts, we must go beyond Darwin. We require a better grasp of the full process, from genes and genomes to individuals and ecosystems.”

Husband says the science complex is shaping up to be a one-of- a-kind research facility in North America. Construction continues, including planned installation this year of the last of a suite of controlled-growth chambers intended for studying plants under varying conditions of light, temperature, carbon dioxide and other variables. (The applied evolution grant will also fund a planned genomics facility for DNA sequencing and related functions; that facility will be included in Phase 2 of the complex, due to open in 2007.)

Husband expects to see more activity here this year as some 15 faculty members — and their research staff and students — connected to the applied evolution initiative populate the facility. What links those diverse researchers in this new space is their common interest in connecting studies of genetics and molecular biology with population biology, evolution and the environment.

That's evident from a glance at the list of research projects of members from the departments of Integrative Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Plant biologists are studying genes responsible for everything from nitrogen use in plants to plant germination rates to plant metabolism. Zoologists are examining the impact of genetics on fish growth and reproduction and the use of genes for identifying species of organisms worldwide. Ecologists are looking at using fungi for restoring disturbed landscapes and at the long-term effects of gene exchange between species of endangered plants and varieties of orchard trees.

“Through the applied evolution grant, I hope we can generate support to target and launch some new research programs that exemplify this multidisciplinary approach — a kind of proof of principle,” says Husband.

Noting that plant flowering is the target of genetic change in the wild and through selective breeding, he says Guelph's new facilities can bring together campus experts in plant population biology, pollination, genetics and molecular and developmental biology in studying how genes for flowering function evolve in different environments.

In another instance, he studies American chestnut, which was formerly widespread across eastern North America until it was nearly wiped out in the early 1900s by a fungal disease. Despite efforts by everyone from plant pathologists to foresters across the continent, it's still not known why the tree has failed to develop resistance to chestnut blight, he says.

“Attacking this problem will require an integrated approach using molecular biology to identify resistance genes and predict their expression in different environments as well as population biology to forecast the fate of these genes in natural populations.”

Few research facilities bring varied interests together to study problems along the full spectrum from genes to populations as Guelph does, says Husband. (The science complex infrastructure embodies last year's reorganization of the College of Biological Science that created the departments of Integrative Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology, underscoring the research links among zoologists, ecologists, geneticists, molecular biologists, botanists, microbiologists and biochemists.)

He says connecting genes and populations is critical for devising new solutions for problems in human health, agriculture and the environment. Those problems include growing microbial resistance to antibiotics, increasing resistance to agricultural pesticides, invasive threats to endemic plants and animals, and bird flu and other diseases that threaten to leap from animals to humans and that may cause epidemics.

The common thread is genetic change. “Many events we're hearing about right now are evolutionary problems,” says Husband.

Not to mention our own role in generating environmental change, another influence on natural populations. “We need to be aware that we have impacts on evolutionary processes.”

Far from merely explaining how living things have developed in the past, applied evolution will help us anticipate new challenges and predict and manage how organisms respond to human perturbations, he says.

“Where evolutionary changes are involved, we have to start looking forward.”