Stonehill breaks new ground on evolution

Human Comparison

To understand how this process might work, Professor Emeritus Robert Peabody suggests that we think about what might happen if humans were genetic mosaics.

“Imagine catching a disease that kills some of your cells, but not all of them; then, having other cells possessing different combinations of your genes allowing you to recover and move on with your life,” says Peabody, one of the 27 faculty and student coauthors who completed this decade-long study.

Collectively the team thinks this form of genetic mosaicism may explain the sizes and longevities of individual honey mushroom networks.

“Perhaps it also explains how they function so well as ecologically important forest decomposer-recyclers and sometimes as plant pathogens causing enormous economic damage to timberlands, orchards, and vineyards around the world,” says Professor Maura Tyrrell who retired from teaching in 2016.

Single Generation

The key to this may be a form of adaptation that takes place within a single generation. The concept of adaptation is not new. What is novel is that mosaicism may allow adaptation to take place within a single generation.

“Adaptation is just the process by which natural selection allows a population of organisms to become better suited to its environment. The structural changes usually occur over many generations, as better suited organisms leave more descendants than others,” explains Peabody.

He adds “Consider human populations exposed to malaria. Populations with historically greater exposures have used the genetic variation in eggs and sperm to develop a degree of resistance to the disease.”

Similarly, every fall, honey mushrooms produce spores that are as genetically variable as human eggs and sperm; and this variation allows generation-to-generation responses to changing environments.

But honey mushrooms have an additional form of genetic variation: differences in cells within the network forming a mosaic allowing functional changes within a single generation.

Scholarly Investigation

“Some of our professors who worked on this in the early days are now retired. Some of our SURE students who collaborated with us on this project are now scientists with doctorates. Some are physicians or dentists and many others are in allied health fields,” notes Professor Diane Peabody who adds that an additional six Stonehill alumni were coauthors of published honey mushroom research.

The long-term, collaborative nature of this research is a hallmark of the College’s Biology Department according to Dean of the College’s May School of Arts & Sciences Peter Ubertaccio.

“The publication of this research in Scientific Reports reflects our Department’s commitment to primary research, partnering with students and rigorously pursuing lines of scholarly investigation,” adds Dean Ubertaccio.