Taking a swab from a frog.

Leverhulme success for Biosciences

Exeter Biosciences has had great success with the latest round of funding from the Leverhulme Trust with the procurement of three separate grants.

Firstly, a team of Exeter scientists working closely with Paignton Zoo, hope to prevent the spread of the amphibian fungal disease Chytridiomycosis by developing a quick and easy tool to detect the presence of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in the field.

The fungus - which is thought to have been a major factor in the decline of almost half of threatened amphibians, in addition to the global extinction of over 30 species - has thrived as result of the global amphibian trade. Although the fungus can already be detected, current methods involve cumbersome equipment within specialist laboratories, which allow the source fungus time to spread before being positively identified.

The team, led by Dr. Chris Thornton and Dr Jamie Stevens, will use the funding to develop a cheap “point-of-care test” to detect the presence of Bd during any stage of its life cycle using Bd-specific monoclonal antibodies. Dr. Thornton has previously used the same technique to successfully develop and export point-of-care tests for other fungal diseases, although this will be the first use of the technique on an amphibian pathogen. The successful development of this tool to detect Bd will reduce the diagnosis time of Chytridiomycosis from days to minutes, which could transform amphibian quarantine and translocation practices, and vastly reduce the fungus’ spread.

The second project to be granted funding by the Leverhulme Trust is led by Dr. Thomas Richards, and aims to reconstruct the genetic repertoire and cellular capabilities of the last common ancestor of eukaryotic organisms. “The rise of the eukaryotic cell was one of the most important evolutionary transitions in the history of life on Earth,” says Dr Richards. Eukaryotic organisms include all life forms whose cell contains a nucleus. It is thought that all living eukaryotes descended from a single ancestor over 1.5 to 2 billion years ago and have since diversified into a huge variety of forms including plants, animals and fungi. The research group at Exeter will compare the genomic features of all living groups of eukaryotes to reconstruct the genetic makeup of ancestral cellular forms and use this to determine the changes in gene repertoire that occurred as the eukaryotes diversified to form the major existing lineages.

The final project is led by Dr. Gabriel Yvon-Durocher at the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the Penryn Campus in Cornwall, collaborating with Prof. Angus Buckling and Streatham’s Prof. Nick Smirnoff and Dr. David Studholme, and involves the study of molecular mechanisms underlying thermal adaptation in marine algae. Algae play a significant role in aquatic ecology, including forming the food base in most marine food chains. Long-term adaptation to ocean temperature has been shown to affect how these algae use energy, which is highly relevant due to the negative effects of climate change on ocean temperature. Therefore, the aims of the project are to further uncover the effects of climate change on the ocean’s ecosystems. The project will incorporate detailed biochemical investigations of temperature acclimation mechanisms and forced evolution combined with genome sequencing to identify genes involved in longer term adaptation to increasing temperature.  

These projects, the first of which will begin in September 2014, highlight the diverse research currently carried out within Biosciences at Exeter and these grant procurements are excellent news for the department, helping to build on the world class research already taking place.

Date: 6 May 2014

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