Department of Primary Industries, NSW Fisheries, National Marine Science Centre, 2 Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, 2450, Australia.
Southern Cross University, National Marine Science Centre, 2 Bay Drive, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, 2450, Australia.
J Phycol. 2019 Aug;55(4):745-751. doi: 10.1111/jpy.12888. Epub 2019 Jun 30.
Environmental and climatic change is outpacing the ability of organisms to adapt, at an unprecedented level, resulting in range contractions and global ecosystem shifts to novel states. At the same time, scientific advances continue to accelerate, providing never-before imagined solutions to current and emerging environmental problems. Synthetic biology, the creation of novel and engineered genetic variation, is perhaps the fastest developing and transformative scientific field. Its application to solve extant and emerging environmental problems is vast, at times controversial, and technological advances have outpaced the social, ethical, and practical considerations of its use. Here, we discuss the potential direct and indirect applications of synthetic biology to kelp forest conservation. Rather than advocate or oppose its use, we identify where and when it may play a role in halting or reversing global kelp loss and discuss challenges and identify pathways of research needed to bridge the gap between technological advances and organismal biology and ecology. There is a pressing need for prompt collaboration and dialogue among synthetic biologists, ecologists, and conservationists to identify opportunities for use and ensure that extant research directions are set on trajectories to allow these currently disparate fields to converge toward practical environmental solutions.
环境和气候的变化速度超过了生物适应的能力，这种变化以前所未有的速度发生，导致生物的分布范围缩小，全球生态系统向新的状态转变。与此同时，科学的进步仍在加速，为当前和新出现的环境问题提供了前所未有的解决方案。合成生物学是创造新型和工程化遗传变异的学科，也许是发展最快、最具变革性的科学领域。它在解决现存和新出现的环境问题方面具有广泛的应用，有时也存在争议，而且技术进步已经超过了对其使用的社会、伦理和实际考虑。在这里，我们讨论了合成生物学在保护海带林方面的潜在直接和间接应用。我们并不是要提倡或反对其使用，而是要确定它在什么情况下可能在阻止或扭转全球海带损失方面发挥作用，并讨论挑战以及确定研究途径，以弥合技术进步与生物和生态学之间的差距。迫切需要合成生物学家、生态学家和保护主义者之间迅速开展合作和对话，以确定使用的机会，并确保现有的研究方向能够走上允许这些目前相互独立的领域朝着实际环境解决方案汇聚的轨道。
