[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Doolittle_Origins.jpg” caption=”Ford Doolittle”]An evolutionary biologist from Dalhousie University will explore the history of life on earth using DNA at the next Origins Lecture taking place at McMaster on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Ford Doolittle, Canada Research Chair in Comparitive Microbial Genomics, will discuss the billion-year history of multicellular organisms in his talk titled “The Tree of Life”.

For the last 40 years, biologists have been using molecular techniques to reconstruct evolutionary history. With complex multicellular organisms, comparing gene sequences has allowed the construction of a largely self-consistent “Tree of Life”, often taken as an accurate representation of the one- to two-billion-year history of these organisms.

“For bacteria, however, it may be more appropriate to speak of the Web of Life, because there is rampant exchange of genes across species lines,” according to Doolittle's lecture abstract. “The spread of antibiotic resistance and the origin of new pathogens are examples of this, and indeed gene exchange, not primary mutation, may be the principle mode of bacterial evolution. This web-like evolution is a challenge to neo-Darwinism, and a source of controversy within the discipline and in the public arena.”

Doolittle will discuss the data and its implications, from practical and philosophical perspectives.

Doolittle is an evolutionary biologist who uses the information in DNA to reconstruct the history of life on earth. Trained at Harvard and Stanford, since 1971 he has been on the faculty of Dalhousie University, where he holds a Canada Research Chair. His primary interest is in the mechanisms by which genes are exchanged across species lines and the implications of such exchange for our understanding of evolution. In the case of bacteria, this exchange may make the popular concept of a Tree of Life meaningless. Currently, his lab is involved in metagenomics, a new science based on the recovery of DNA directly from the environment, and assessing what biological activities are occurring by decoding this DNA.

The lecture takes place Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. in the CIBC Hall, Rm. 319 of the McMaster University Student Centre. Admission is free but early seating is recommended.

The Origins Institute was establish in 2004, and undertakes research into origins-related themes, such as the origins of space and time, and the origins of structure in the cosmos. The lecture is part of the on-going Origins Public Lecture Series. For additional information on the Institute and the lecture series visit http://origins.mcmaster.ca.