Advancing Biodiversity Science Through DNA Barcodes

在过去的250年里，生物一直是通过耗时的形态学检查来识别的，这种方法需要对每个分类组具有专业知识的研究人员。我的研究项目是将生物多样性科学从模拟的过去转变为数字化的未来，这一转变是由两种方法和技术进步实现的。首先，基于短的、标准化的基因区域（即DNA条形码）序列变异分析的识别系统在物种识别方面非常有效。其次，高通量测序仪允许以低廉的价格获取条形码记录。目前的仪器每年可以生成500万个参考条形码，每张不到1美元，而且它们可以以0.01美元的价格筛选大量样本的物种组成。这些发展使生物多样性调查的速度和规模在以前是不可想象的。由于测序仪的产量每9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，但仍需要大量的工作来优化方案。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。******我未来五年的工作有三个主要目标。我和我的学生将扩展在加拿大发现的动物物种的DNA条形码参考库，重点是海洋和土壤生活的无脊椎动物。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方案。我们将于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取样节肢动物。在接下来的几年里，这项工作将扩展到另外四个生态区的节肢动物多样性研究。最后，我们将扩大我们对条形码数据的使用，以加深对影响分子进化因素的理解。******我们的工作将使监测物种分布和丰度的变化成为可能，首先是在我们的国家，然后是在整个地球。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个签署国于2015年12月批准将DNA条形码作为监测全球生物多样性轨迹的关键方法。我们的工作也有重要的实际应用，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，鉴定食品和天然保健产品，以及检测作物害虫和入侵物种。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进生物多样性科学。

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.