Bacteria which can eliminate males in entire populations of insects are being investigated at the University of Dundee. Researchers are mathematically modelling the activity of the bacterium Wolbachia which can switch off male development.
Post graduate scholar Peter Schofield in the Department of Mathematics has been awarded a prestigious post doctoral fellowship by the Wellcome Trust to mathematically model the dynamics of parasitic wasps and the male destroying bacteria that they can spread in the insects they attack.
Wolbachia can arrest male production in the early development of an insect with the result that the whole population becomes female. The bacterium has the potential to spread across insect species. Peter Schofield: "Research has so far indicated it is limited to invertebrates, a bacterium that evolved to affect vertebrates and humans in the same way might have dramatic consequences for the human race."
Peter's project is the latest development in mathematical modelling to make discoveries about biological phenomena. He is aiming to use his results to reach a better understanding of how these parasites behave. He has been preparing the mathematical models and will soon insert the data from his field research to calculate the threat of the male destroying bacterium.
Peter will fill fields outside Dundee at the Scottish Crop Research Institute with caterpillars to observe and record on videotape the dynamics of predation by natural populations of parasitic wasps. He will also take his project to the University of Alberta, Canada where he will study parasitic flies and the caterpillars they attack in acres of forests and assess the results on an even larger scale.
Peter's personal training fellowship in mathematical biology is one of the most prestigious scientific scholarships in the UK. Awarded by the Wellcome Trust, only a few are given every year to young scientists with great potential. Peter will be carrying out his research in the School of Life Sciences and the Mathematics Department at the University of Dundee which received 5 star and 5 ratings in the recent Research Assessment Exercise. He will conduct his fieldwork at the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Invergowrie, near Dundee. Peter is also a member of the SIMBIOS Centre -a joint venture between the University of Dundee and Abertay Dundee.
Wolbachia was first identified in mosquitoes in the Netherlands during the 1950s. Peter Schofield explains: "It has many possible implications including the biological control of insect pests and the promotion of selected genes through a population. Similar to the sought after results by genetic engineers - Wolbachia is proof that natural selection has already begun genetic engineering of its own."
Peter Schofield took his undergraduate degree through the Open University in maths and computing before studying for his PhD at the University of Dundee. Peter will study for his post doc at the University funded by the Wellcome Trust scholarship./ENDS