BBSR 2001 Annual Report - Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

Investigating theBuilding Blocksof Marine LifeBBSR’s International Center for Ocean and Human Health focusesnot only on the health of the ocean, such as the pollution threatsdescribed in the previous article by Dr. Richard Owen, but also onhealth from the ocean, in the form of new pharmaceuticals derivedfrom marine organisms.Here, Dr. Hank Trapido-Rosenthal,who leads BBSR’s molecular marinebiology program, describes BBSR’sgenomics research initiative. Thisresearch includes a bioprospectingprogram that he and his team at BBSRare conducting in partnership withDiversa, a biotechnology firm based inSan Diego. The research effort takesadvantage of the many species found inmarine ecosystems that lie right onBermuda’s doorstep. BBSR’sinvestigations in this area, which havefocused primarily on Bermuda’sinshore coral reef environment, arebeing expanded to include furtherinvestigation of the open ocean,perhaps the greatest untapped resourcefor marine natural products.Key partners in the BBSR initiativeare Dr. Stephen Giovannoni of OregonState University and BBSR AdjunctScientist Dr. Craig Carlson of theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara.These two microbiologists havedeveloped at BBSR a “marine microbialobservatory” at the Bermuda AtlanticTime-series Study site with fundingfrom the U.S. National ScienceFoundation. In 2001, initial seed fundingwas secured to begin an increasedgenomics research program in 2002.BBSR’S BIOPROSPECTINGprogram applies the tools ofgenomics and genetic engineering tothe task of searching for bioactivemolecules that have potential uses inthe medical and industrial worlds.“Genomics” refers to the study of thegenomes, the complete set of geneticblueprints, of organisms. My colleaguesand I are investigating the vast,untapped microbial biodiversity foundboth in the open ocean and inassociation with the benthic organisms,such as sponges and corals, that arefound in Bermuda’s shallower inshorewaters.In the case of pharmaceuticaldevelopment, the concept is as follows.Medical advances come mainly fromidentifying new ways of attackingdiseases by finding where in nature adesired process is either promoted orinhibited. Genomics, which gives usaccess to the entire genome of anorganism, provides us with anenormous source of new biologicaltargets as well as a new source ofpotential promoters and inhibitors thattake aim at those targets. Thanks to thehuman genome project, sequencinggenes is no longer a technological orrate-limiting issue. Now the key is