Tapping the biological and chemical diversity of Canada's plants: An interdisciplinary approach

植物代谢物对全球生态系统和经济至关重要。在生态上，它们维持食物链，调节物种间的相互作用，并形成共同进化关系。在经济上，人类已经将植物化学用于食品、医药、杀虫剂、生物燃料和其他工业或文化目的。在加拿大，尽管有无与伦比的北方和北极生物多样性、独特的南方生态系统和丰富的本土传统知识，但令人惊讶的是，我们的植物仍然没有被科学开发和开发。此外，虽然植物的生态和人类利用从根本上说是通过植物化学产生的生化效应联系在一起的，但这两个视角很少被整合和探索，以提供对彼此的洞察。 我提出的计划针对的是那些具有丰富但未被研究的本土生物多样性、具有重要经济意义的植物。由于加拿大有太多的植物需要调查，我们通过整合植物进化和生态学、植物化学和药理学以及民族植物学(植物与人之间的关系)的视角来识别具有科学和社会意义的物种和化学物质。在植物生态和可持续资源开发的总体主题下，我们的研究旨在了解植物如何、何时以及为什么产生生物活性物质，并确定有前景的植物种类，作为功能食品、天然保健品(NHP)、生物制药或病虫害和生物防治制剂。 本着建立世界级研究和培训计划的长期目标，我们将基础科学与现实世界的应用联系起来，支持经济机会和创新产品，以及有利于加拿大社区、行业和生态系统的健全公共政策、项目和教育。为了实现这一目标，我们使用不同类型的研究(实验室、温室、田间和社区)，并与行业、政府以及原住民和因纽特社区合作。在研究我国独特的植物多样性和本土传统知识时，我的项目目前专注于三类植物：向日葵科(菊科)、蓝莓科(杜鹃科)，以及更广泛地说，可以食用但可能有毒的植物。通过我们的研究，我们将确定潜在开发的植物和新化合物为新产品，宣传种植和收获高价值作物以优化质量和安全的最佳做法，并改善土著社区获得高质量食品资源的机会。我的项目提供热情的年轻科学家在不同科学领域的培训和经验，关于先进的技术设备，并与私营和公共部门合作伙伴，我的项目还将帮助为下一代领导人提供宝贵的专业知识和专业网络。

Plant metabolites are vital to global ecosystems and economies. Ecologically, they sustain food chains, mediate interspecific interactions, and shape co-evolutionary relationships. Economically, humans have harnessed plant chemistry for food, medicine, pesticides, biofuels and other industrial or cultural purposes. In Canada, despite unsurpassed boreal and arctic biodiversity, distinct southern ecosystems and rich indigenous traditional knowledge, our plants remain surprisingly unexplored and underdeveloped by science. Moreover, while the ecology and human uses of plants are fundamentally linked through the biochemical effects generated by plant chemistry, the two perspectives are seldom integrated and explored to provide insight on one another. My proposed program targets groups of plants that are economically important with rich yet unstudied native biodiversity. Because Canada has too many plants to investigate, we identify species and chemicals of scientific and societal interest by integrating perspectives in plant evolution and ecology, plant chemistry and pharmacology, and ethnobotany (the relationship between plants and people). Under overarching themes of plant ecology and sustainable resource development, our research aims to understand how, when and why plants produce biologically active substances and to identify promising plant species for development as functional foods, natural health products (NHPs), biopharmaceuticals or pest and biological control agents. With the long-term goal of establishing a world-class research and training program, we bridge basic science to real world applications that support economic opportunity and innovative products as well as sound public policy, programs and education that benefit Canadian communities, industries, and ecosystems. To achieve this goal, we use different types of research (laboratory, greenhouse, field and community-based) research and collaborate with industry, government and First Nations and Inuit communities. Studying our nation’s unique plant diversity and indigenous traditional knowledge, my program currently focuses on three groups of plant: the sunflower family (Asteraceae), the blueberry family (Ericaceae) and, more generally, plants that could be edible but may be toxic. Through our research, we will identify plants and new compounds for potential development as new products, inform best practices for cultivating and harvesting high-value crops for optimized quality and safety, and improve access to high quality food resources in indigenous communities. Offering enthusiastic young scientists training and experience in different scientific fields, on advanced technical equipment, and with private and public sector partners, my program will also help provide the next generation of leaders with valuable expertise and professional networks.