{"id":58253,"date":"2019-07-18T17:01:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T21:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=58253"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:53:14","slug":"its-all-in-the-genes","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/its-all-in-the-genes\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s All In The Genes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n It\u2019s All In The Genes\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

What is it about a pine tree that could make it a good defender against the devastating mountain pine beetle<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Catherine Cullingham<\/a> would argue that it\u2019s in the genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cullingham was at the University of Alberta, researching pine-tree genetics, before joining Carleton University\u2019s Department of Biology<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She fell in love with molecular biology during her undergrad at Guelph University, where she studied molecular biology and genetics, and went on to complete a PhD in watershed ecosystems at Trent University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Catherine Cullingham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During her doctoral work, Cullingham researched conservation genetics and landscape genetics, a field that looks into how we can understand an animal\u2019s movement using its genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work also intersected with health. She researched where racoons are likely to move to help predict where rabies would eventually spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always some pathogenic disease that I\u2019m looking at,\u201d she says, \u201ctrying to use the genetics of the host to better manage the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Cullingham first started in this field, it was entirely new. The term \u201clandscape genetics\u201d wasn\u2019t coined until 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The field has grown since then. So much so that her Genomics of Plants, Pathogens and Pests (GP3) lab<\/a> at Carleton is using methods from molecular biology, landscape ecology, population genetics, genomics and geographic information systems to study a huge range of issues in wildlife management, such as the pine beetle \u2014 which takes the research outside the lab and gives it significant real-world applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Devastating Pine Beetle Outbreak<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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This year at Carleton, Cullingham is hoping to build on her research about the mountain pine beetle \u2014 a wood-boring insect that has been attacking a range of pine tree species in Alberta and British Columbia in an outbreak that began more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce it moved into Alberta around 2006, it was attacking pine trees within the lodgepole and jack pine hybrid zone,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was difficult to identify whether pure jack pines were being attacked, because hybrids can be difficult to distinguish from the pure species. My research confirmed what forest managers suspected \u2014 that jack pines are susceptible to the mountain pine beetle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beetle is now slowly making its way toward central Canada, and Cullingham says that in Ontario additional plant species are likely susceptible to it. Which is where her current research comes into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea is to try to identify what genes are involved in defense and whether there are certain variations in those genes that make some species better defenders,\u201d she says. \u201cIt might not even be in the genes. It might be how the genes are turned on and off, how they\u2019re regulated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the challenges to her research is the sheer size of the pine tree genome, which is 10 times larger than the human genome. Moreover, because her work is focused on natural populations, her samples always come from the wild, which can be challenging to obtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not an easy species to study in a lab,\u201d she says about pine trees. \u201cThere are other people in the department who work on small plants, model systems, things that we know a lot about. Pine trees are something that we still need to learn a lot about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n

Climate Change Could Contribute to More Severe Outbreaks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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In January, Cullingham will start teaching a class on population genetics, and she\u2019s looking for students to join her team in the GP3 lab in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe work I do is critical, especially right now,\u201d she says. \u201cClimate change is happening, and with climate change, it changes the dynamics of forest-pest interactions. You\u2019re going to get potentially more severe insect outbreaks because the trees are stressed from things such as drought and extreme heat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mountain pine beetle outbreak has major economic implications too, Cullingham adds. The trees she looks at are used for lumber, pulp and paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re also important beyond the ecosystem services \u2014 like carbon sequestration \u2014 that they provide,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re important habitats for a number of keystone species, endangered species and species at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying tree genetics also gives you insight into the bigger pictures, continues Cullingham. You see that trees provide human enjoyment through public parks and their natural beauty, in addition to serving as homes for mammals, insects and birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be here and starting up a lab and mentoring students,\u201d she says. \u201cI really enjoy this aspect of being an academic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is it about a pine tree that could make it a good defender against the devastating mountain pine beetle? Prof. Catherine Cullingham would argue that it\u2019s in the genes. Cullingham was at the University of Alberta, researching pine-tree genetics, before joining Carleton University\u2019s Department of Biology this summer. She fell in love with molecular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":58257,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-58253","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/58253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/58253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97402,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/58253\/revisions\/97402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=58253"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=58253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}