Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2023 Apr;80:102901. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2023.102901. Epub 2023 Feb 10.
Human disturbances are altering global biodiversity in unprecedented ways. We identify three fundamental challenges underpinning our understanding of global biodiversity (namely discovery, loss, and preservation), and discuss how the omics revolution (e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and meta-omics) can help address these challenges. We also discuss how omics tools can illuminate the major drivers of biodiversity loss, including invasive species, pollution, urbanization, overexploitation, and climate change, with a special focus on highly diverse tropical environments. Although omics tools are transforming the traditional toolkit of biodiversity research, their application to addressing the current biodiversity crisis remains limited and may not suffice to offset current rates of biodiversity loss. Despite technical and logistical challenges, omics tools need to be fully integrated into global biodiversity research, and better strategies are needed to improve their translation into biodiversity policy and practice. It is also important to recognize that although the omics revolution can be considered the biologist's dream, socioeconomic disparity limits their application in biodiversity research.
人类活动正在以前所未有的方式改变着全球生物多样性。我们确定了理解全球生物多样性（即发现、损失和保护）的三个基本挑战，并讨论了组学革命（如基因组学、转录组学、蛋白质组学、代谢组学和宏基因组学）如何帮助应对这些挑战。我们还讨论了组学工具如何阐明生物多样性丧失的主要驱动因素，包括入侵物种、污染、城市化、过度开发和气候变化，特别关注高度多样化的热带环境。尽管组学工具正在改变生物多样性研究的传统工具包，但它们在解决当前生物多样性危机方面的应用仍然有限，可能不足以抵消当前的生物多样性丧失速度。尽管存在技术和后勤方面的挑战，但组学工具需要全面融入全球生物多样性研究，并且需要更好的策略来提高其在生物多样性政策和实践中的转化。同样重要的是要认识到，尽管组学革命可以被认为是生物学家的梦想，但社会经济差距限制了它们在生物多样性研究中的应用。
