Magazine R531

Q & A

Greg GibsonGreg Gibson grew up in Canberra,Australia, and did hisundergraduate degree in Biologyat the University of Sydney. Hemoved to Basel, Switzerland, forhis PhD on the specificity ofhomeotic genes in Drosophila,and then to Stanford for post-doctoral research, where hisinterests turned to the quantitativegenetics of development in flies.After a year at Duke University hetook up a junior faculty position atthe University of Michigan, wherehe received a David and LucillePackard Foundation fellowshipthat was the key to establishinghis research program. He movedto the Genetics Department atNorth Carolina State University,also as an Assistant Professor, in1998, where he adopted genomicsapproaches to quantitativeevolutionary genetics. Togetherwith Spencer Muse, he wrote ‘APrimer of Genome Science’,published by Sinauer Associates,now in its second edition. He iscurrently conducting research onassociation studies andquantitative transcription profilingin relation to morphogenesis andphysiology on Drosophila, with agrowing interested in caninegenomics as well.

How did you become interestedin genetics? Well, both of myparents were biologists, sonaturally I didn’t want to haveanything to do with biology in highschool. At Sydney Uni, I wasstudying science and lawtogether, struggling with themendacity of torts. My father gaveme a book on genetics to read. Bythe time I finished chapter 3 I’ddecided to make solving thegenetic code my life’s work; then Idiscovered in chapter 5 that theproblem was solved. But I washooked.

If not the genetic code, thenwhat hooked you? Patternformation. The next year we wereintroduced to transdetermination— the change in fate of Drosophila

imaginal discs from, say, antennato leg, when you culture them fora long time in larvae. WalterGehring, who did much of thatwork, happened to be on a tour ofAustralia, just at the time his labwas cloning the DrosophilaAntennapedia complex. Thiscomplex encodes a series ofgenes that, when mutated, changeantenna into leg, for example. Hegave a seminar on the homeobox,and it was just amazing to learnthat this little bit of a gene holds akey to the evolution anddevelopment of the body plan.The next thing you know I was onthe plane to Switzerland for aPhD.

Who else have been yourgreatest influences? I’ve beenvery lucky to have been mentoredby a series of extraordinaryscientists, who approachedscience very differently but allrespected the essential need forindividual exploration. At a criticaljuncture as a post-doc, while Iwas deciding, without reallyrealizing it, to switch fromdevelopmental to quantitativegenetics, I went to a workshop atStanford. One senior geneticisttold me straight up that I wasnaïve and misguided. Technicallyhe was right, but luckily AndyClark was also there and heimmediately offered support andencouragement. One chanceencounter can change the courseof a career.

What advice would you giveyoung scientists? Be passionate,find your niche, and let theenvironment around you make youbetter. I think it is important towork with someone whose workinspires you, but most of the timeyou are going to be learning morefrom all of the other colleaguesand peers around you. The otherimportant thing is to be open-minded to diverse approaches.For example, coming to NorthCarolina State University wasnovel for me, because there isdefinitely a different atmospherein land grant universities. After awhile, I realized that peopleworking on pigs and maize areasking basically the samequestions as Drosophilists and

Arabidopsans. Genomics enablesus all to talk together now, sothere is great potential for cross-fertilization.

Hence your new interest incanine genomics? Yes, dogs areobviously a wonderful system forstudying developmental andbehavioral evolution, but they arealso emerging as a very usefulmodel for toxicology andparasitology. For example, onequarter of the world’s populationis infected with intestinalhookworms that contribute toenormous loss of human potential,yet they receive little attention, sowe have done some work oncanine hookworm as a model.

What are the big questions allbiologists are asking, then? I’mnot so sure if we’re really askingthem! I guess consciousness andthe origin of biological complexityare two areas where we are prettymuch clueless. The latter isclosest to my research interests:I’m probably best known for mywork on canalization, which is theevolution of the buffering ofdevelopment. When you perturbgenetic systems, you don’t justchange the mean value of a trait,you also usually increase itsvariability. I suspect thisphenomenon has something to dowith the epidemic nature of whatwe tend to think of as geneticdiseases, like diabetes,depression and asthma. In themodern environment we may justbe exposing much more ‘cryptic’genetic variation. Solving thisriddle also has implications forunderstanding how novelbiochemical, physiological anddevelopmental genetic networksarise and evolve.

These are all genetic questions,what about other sciences?Actually, I think our biggest issuesare educational and cultural. Ifbiology is going to be the scienceof the 21st century, we really haveto pay attention to the socialupheaval this is feeding. I thinkpeople are afraid of genetics atsome level, because they do notunderstand it and it butts upagainst beliefs and value systems(which is something that I do not

understand). Biologists andtheologians are going to have towork together to counterbalancethe extreme fundamentalistattitudes that threaten pluralismand rationalism.

Are you saying that religion isalso something that geneticistsshould be studying? No, not atall. Every individual has to findtheir own accommodationbetween their spirituality and theirscientific knowledge. For mepersonally, there is no need for agod, and a secular world view ismuch richer and more hopeful,but obviously there are millions ofChristians and Jews and Hindusand others who have no problemintegrating faith into theirscientific worldview. The tragedyis that there is a strong echo-chamber out there that equates‘belief’ in evolution withimmorality. I suspect we haveourselves partly to blame,arrogantly proclaiming threateningideas from selfish genes throughsociobiology to social Darwinismas if they are some higher truth.

What is the educationalchallenge then? To help peopleto understand genetics, which likeit or not is going to play a biggerand bigger role in everyone’s lives,without being threatened.Approaching half of all Americancollege students, includingprobably over a quarter of allbiology majors, now regardintelligent design and evolution asequally valid explanations for theorigin of life on Earth. Anotherquarter reject evolution altogether.That isn’t a problem in itself,except that it tends to come with awhole package of anti-intellectualstuff. If the fraction approachesfifty percent, I worry that we willenter a social phase transition thatstarts to reject rational enquiryitself. I guess we need to stopcasting evolution in opposition toreligion, and start seeing these astwo arms of the quest tounderstand human nature, workingtogether and building on acommon tradition of enquiry.

Department of Genetics, North CarolinaState University, Gardner Hall, Raleigh,North Carolina 27695-7614, USA.

Current Biology Vol 15 No 14R532

The females of bird species thatchoose mates on the basis ofmale traits are often presentedwith an impressive array. Theplumage of some males showmultiple colourful and showyaspects often accompanied bycomplex songs or dances. Andamongst the bowerbirds, malesfurther dazzle with theirconstruction skills and a display ofdecorations and ‘painting’ of thebower. So what is a discerningfemale to make of all this? What isthat makes the difference andleads to a female mating with amale?

New work by Timothy Robsonand colleagues at the University of

Queensland reported in the RoyalSociety’s Biology Letters(published online) has looked intothis issue. They have looked at themating choices of female satinbowerbirds in rainforest clearingsadjoining the Bunya MountainsNational Park in Queensland.

The team trapped, colour-banded and measured a total of561 bowerbirds and their strategywas then to video record a total of21 different males’ bowers overthree consecutive breedingseasons. The team monitored 14bowers each year out of the 35–50present in the area. They chosebowers most likely to be visited byfemales, based on previous

Signal issues: female satin bowerbirds are faced with a wide range of signals frommales when choosing a mate. (Picture: Michael Fogden/Oxford Scientific)

The focus of desire