Doubling down on detox: how mammalian herbivores adapt to dietary toxins

Title: Doubling down on detox: how mammalian herbivores adapt to dietary toxins

Speaker: Distinguished Professor M. Denise Dearing from the University of Utah

Abstract: Abstract: Plants produce complex chemical compounds that can make them unpalatable or even lethal to herbivores yet some mammals thrive on diets rich in plant toxins. How are they able to do this, and what can dietary specialists teach us about the process of adaptation? This seminar explores these questions through the biology of woodrats (Neotoma), a diverse group of herbivorous mammals whose diets range from broad and flexible to remarkably specialized. Drawing on research spanning ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and genomics, I will present how woodrats respond to toxic plants and how their detoxification systems evolve as populations encounter new dietary challenges. The emerging story challenges some common assumptions about the evolution of specialized traits and highlights gene duplication as a potentially powerful route to rapid adaptation. More broadly, this work offers insight into the evolutionary interplay between plants and their consumers and into how animals may respond when environmental change reshapes the chemical landscape of food. 

Bio: Dr. M. Denise Dearing is a Distinguished Professor, Presidential Endowed Chair in Environmental Science, and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Science at the University of Utah. A nutritional ecologist, she investigates how mammalian herbivores circumvent, metabolize, and even co-opt the natural toxins in their diets. Her research integrates physiological, ecological, molecular, genomic, and microbiome-based approaches to understand dietary specialization and adaptation. Dearing earned her Ph.D. from the University of Utah and completed postdoctoral training as a Fulbright Scholar at CSIRO in Australia and as an NSF Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. Her recent honors include the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Humboldt Research Award.