Life has diversified over the course of four billion years to reach the wide array of species we see today. It is now common knowledge that, in modern days, biodiversity has begun to rapidly decrease in various habitats due to human activity and pollution. But the alternative consequence has yet to be evaluated: has human activity stimulated new evolutionary trajectories? I will show the newest genomic and phylogenetic analyses of microorganisms in wastewater treatment bioreactors treating xenobiotics—artificial compounds that nature has never or rarely seen—that reveal contemporary evolution stimulated by industrial activity.
Speaker Bio: I am a senior researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, exploring life’s evolution through history recorded in genes and ancient physiologies hidden in elusive “living fossil” organisms. Life as we know it today is defined by its past, beginning from its emergence on our planet's seafloor four billion years ago; unraveling this history is critical in comprehending life's essence. Thus far, I have uncovered major turning points in life's history, including the origins of the three major divisions of life—bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes—and metabolisms deeply tied to these events—photosynthesis, methanogenesis, and syntrophy. Now, I am focusing on elucidation of how the Earth's vast ever-changing ocean guided the evolution of life's metabolisms, shapes, and ecology. Before my current position, I was a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan. I received my bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Minnesota and both my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.