Alice Mouton, FNRS research fellow at the Conservation Genetics Unit of the University of Liège, is one of 12 Belgian women researchers selected to share their research with the general public at the Soapbox Science 2021 event. Inspired by the Speaker's corner in London, Soapbox Science events are organised in different countries around the world to promote women and non-binary scientists and their research. Alice will talk about genetics applied to the study of biodiversity. Let's talk about it.
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ften perceived as the science that studies human beings, genomics can be used in many other fields, such as the study of biodiversity and species conservation. Alice Mouton, FNRS research fellow at the Laboratory of Conservation Genetics (InBios/Faculty of Science) at ULiège, is conducting research that will be at the heart of her speech at the SoapBox Science 2021 event, a sharing and popularisation event that brings together 12 Belgian researchers this year.
Genomics is a fast-growing science in the field of biodiversity, offering new techniques and methods that push the limits of our knowledge. "Scientists have succeeded in recovering DNA from a mammoth bone that was more than one million years old! Paleogenomics is now a wonderful tool for better understanding the evolutionary history of completely extinct and little-known species! "It was during her post-doctorate in a laboratory specialising in applied genomics for conservation at the University of California that Alice Mouton discovered her passion for this field. "During this stay, I studied the history of the Direwolf. Using several pieces of bone dating from 12,000 to 50,000 years ago, we turned the phylogeny of the canidae upside down! For a long time considered as a sister species of the wolf, we have, thanks to genomics, demonstrated that this was not the case! This is why the study of the genome is interesting, because it provides a greater amount of information, or even all the information linked to genetic diversity. This allows us to better understand phenomena such as inbreeding, problems of hybridisation between species, adaptations of species to their environment (climate, altitude, etc.), past or potentially future population dynamics, etc. »
The various genomic techniques and methods use water or soil samples to identify the passage of species in a given location, or can even be combined with other methods, such as archaeological excavations that have determined what passed through a cave hundreds of thousands of years ago. It is also possible to extract DNA from dung and determine the diet of a species (metabarcoding). This is a very useful method, especially for species whose ecology is not well known and whose observation is difficult. "As part of my post-doctorate in the USA, I also had the opportunity to better understand the problems of secondary poisoning due to rodenticide in a carnivore population (bobcats). From blood samples collected from living individuals, we can use a method called transcriptomics or RNAseq. RNA analysis gives us an idea of the expression of genes (who is active, who is not). Our analyses showed that rodenticides had a direct effect on bobcat immunity and our work was used to change legislation on the use of rodenticides in California. »
The discoveries made thanks to genomics can therefore often have a direct impact on environmental management programmes. As part of her FNRS research project, Alice Mouton is studying the problems of inbreeding in European mink. "This species is indeed critically endangered and I want to better understand the impact of inbreeding on the genome and potentially identify genes that are harmful to the survival of the species. "To do this, Alice Mouton is working closely with other researchers specialising in the species, as well as with environmental protection agencies. "For some months now, I have also been on the executive committee of a European consortium of more than 500 researchers whose objective is to create a reference atlas of all the species' genomes in Europe. In the same way that we have type samples in museums, reference genomes can serve as a standard for further genomic research. »
As we can see, there are many applications in genetics for studying biodiversity. Although the genomic data generated allow for dazzling advances, there is a lack of scientific popularisation and communication about conservation genomics. It was with this in mind that Alice Mouton wanted to take part in the SoapboxScience event, precisely to be able to inform and share with the general public these rapidly expanding areas of research.
Come and meet Alice Mouton this 26 June at PLace de la Bourse in Brussels
Based on the format of London's Speaker's Corner, Soapbox Science is a non-profit initiative designed to promote women and non-binary scientists and their research through public participation. The initiative has two aims: to provide opportunities to meet and interact with scientists in unexpected places and to increase the visibility of women in science. Soapbox Science helps to challenge gender stereotypes that are established from an early age by increasing the visibility of women in science and by organising events in popular public spaces such as parks, high streets and beaches. With speakers ranging from PhD students to vice-chancellors, Soapbox Science showcases the full range of academic careers and gives speakers the opportunity to meet and network with other women scientists. Nearly 2,000 scientists have climbed onto one of the Soapbox Science boxes, and more than 200,000 people have attended events since 2011.
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