Advancing Biodiversity Science Through DNA Barcodes

在过去的250年里，生物体的识别是通过耗时的形态检查来进行的，这种方法需要研究人员对每个分类群拥有专业知识。我的研究计划正在将生物多样性科学从模拟过去过渡到数字未来，这一转变得益于两个方法和技术的进步。首先，基于短的标准化基因区域(即DNA条形码)的序列变异分析的鉴定系统在物种鉴别方面非常有效。其次，高通量测序仪允许以低成本获取条形码记录。目前的仪器每年可以以不到一美元的价格生成500万个参考条形码，它们可以筛选批量样本的物种组成，每个样本只需0.01美元。这些发展使生物多样性调查以以前不可想象的速度和规模成为可能。由于测序仪的产量每九个月翻一番，DNA条形码将很快使监测和预测全球范围内的生物变化成为可能，但仍需要大量工作来优化方案。由于加拿大占地球陆地面积的7%，它提供了一个很好的试验台。我在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境内发现的动物物种的DNA条形码参考库，重点是海洋和土壤中的无脊椎动物。在这项工作进行的同时，我们还将推进大规模生物多样性监测的协议。我们将在2018年开始这项工作，在安大略省南部15万平方公里的网格中对节肢动物进行采样。在接下来的几年里，这项工作将扩大到研究另外四个生态区的节肢动物多样性。最后，我们将扩大条形码数据的使用，以加深对影响分子进化的因素的理解。*我们的工作将使我们有可能近乎实时地监测物种分布和丰度的变化，首先是在我们国家，然后是整个地球。迫切需要这种能力来履行保护生物多样性的国际义务。因此，《生物多样性公约》的196个签署国在2015年12月认可DNA条形码是监测全球生物多样性轨迹的关键方法。我们的工作还具有重要的实际应用，公共和私营部门广泛采用DNA条形码进行法医调查、评估环境影响、认证食品和天然保健品以及检测作物病虫害和入侵物种就是明证。除了这些社会效益外，我们的研究还将通过加深对影响物种形成和分子进化速度的因素的理解来推动生物多样性科学的发展。

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.