New perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of macrogenetics

The burgeoning field of macrogenetics is at the center of a new review published in Nature Genetic Opinion by a global and multidisciplinary team of researchers seeking to better answer the fundamental questions of biodiversity.

Led by Sean Hoban, Ph.D., a tree conservation biologist at The Morton Arboretum, the researchers provide insight into macrogenetics, which uses big data to identify global drivers of genetic diversity within and between populations at large spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales.

“The goal of macrogenetics is to use thousands of datasets to answer a central question about life on Earth: why do some regions of the world have more biodiversity than others? Hoban said.

Until recently, the authors say, large-scale analyzes in population genetics, evolutionary biology, and molecular ecology were extremely rare due to high costs and complicated methodologies. However, advances in technology, molecular biology, statistics, and the widespread availability of large datasets, among other factors, have paved the way for this new field of study, addressing questions on a larger scale than ever before. .

“Science is moving towards a more collaborative working model in which researchers publish their complete data online in easily searchable databases, so that others can reuse it for other purposes, including macrogenetics and conservation.” Hoban said. “It’s exciting to see scientists make their work accessible, reusable and easier to use. Some call it “open science”. “

Hoban said genetic diversity is a key factor in the complexity and resilience of systems, allowing populations to thrive and adapt, but its conservation is often overlooked in public policy. “Macrogenetic studies evaluating genetic diversity over time and space will provide valuable large-scale opportunities to detect environmental changes, including, for example, the first genetic signals of the effects of climate change that might otherwise be overlooked. detection, ”he said.

Ultimately, according to the authors, observations of large-scale models must be linked to national legislation and global initiatives such as the Convention on Biological Diversity or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For this to happen, macrogeneticists must extend the communication of their scientific studies to the general public, industry and policy makers, the authors stressed.

“We hope to be able to answer fundamental questions about biodiversity: not just whether humans are having an impact, but on what scale and at what threshold,” Hoban said. “We can then use these findings to inform sustainable and impactful policies.”

Hoban also noted that macrogenetic research could settle a long-standing debate among scientists: whether the same environmental factors that affect species diversity in a region also affect genetic diversity.

According to the journal, increasing access to data has opened many doors for genetic researchers, but it also has its own major statistical challenges. “The amount of data we can now access is staggering. The biggest challenge is figuring out the right statistical techniques,” Hoban said. The authors write that most of the statistical and analytical tools used in macrogenetics are reused from other disciplines, and they expect and encourage researchers to explore which tools are best suited for analyzing large-scale macrogenetic datasets.

Hoban noted that large-scale data analysis is also a growing trend among ecological researchers and conservation professionals. Scientists at the Morton Arboretum are using large datasets to perform global conservation gap analyzes, determine patterns of evolution in woody plant traits, discover how ecosystems evolve over long time periods, and document the changes. changes in forests under warmer temperatures, among other projects. They also produce such datasets, including in the Arboretum Herbarium.

“This is an extremely exciting time – the field is growing from a dozen studies to hundreds on the horizon,” Hoban said. “It is as if we are in a new chapter of scientific progress,” he added.