D. Wade Abbott, Ph. D.

Research Scientist

Agricultural Glycomics

Functional Genomics of Carbohydrate Utilization

Intestinal Microbiomes

Carbohydrate Active Enzymes

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

5403-1st Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta

Current research and/or projects

Principle Investigator. Abbott, DW (PI), Title: “New value streams for Canadian pea proteins and co-products.” SCAP Agriscience Clusters - Bioproducts (AAFC)
Principal Investigator. Abbott DW (PI). Title: “Workshop and Relationship building with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.” AAFC-Indigenous Agriculture Science Partnership Program
Co-Applicant. Master, E (PI), Brumer, H, Abbott, DW, Title: “Enzymatic upgrading of biorefinery side-streams.” SCAP Agriscience Clusters - Bioproducts (AAFC)
Principle Investigator. Abbott, DW (PI), Terry, S (Co-PI), Alexander, TW, Challis, J. Title: “Impact of indigenous plants on bovine-associated microbial communities and climate performance of cattle.” Annual Call (AAFC)
Co-Applicant. Gruninger, RJ (PI), Petri, R (Co-PI), Abbott, DW, McAllister, TA, Ortega Polo, R, Terry, S. Title: “Application of culturomics and in-silico inhibitor design to identify next-generation methane inhibitors that will reduce the environmental footprint of beef and dairy production in Canada.” Annual Call (AAFC)
Co-Applicant. Bainard, J (PI), Bainard, L (Co-PI), Abbott, DW, Alemu, A., Elsigner, M, Ensing, D., Fressanges, S, Gagne, D, Gorzelak, M., Hannam, K, Hannam, K, Iwaasa, A, Leewis, M-C, Messiga, A, Riendeau, G, Royer, I, Savard, T, Thomas, B, Wallace, R. Title: “SCAP-ASC-01 Beef Cluster Activity 10: Grazing management across western Canada: uncovering the role of the microbiome and implications for forage productivity, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions.” Beef and Cattle Research Council Agriscience Cluster Projects (AAFC)
Co-Applicant. Terry, S (PI), Abbott, DW, Coates, T, Gruninger, R, McAllister, T. Title: “SCAP-ASC-01 Beef Cluster Activity 14A: Potential for the up-cycling and reduction of food waste in feedlot cattle.” Beef and Cattle Research Council Agriscience Cluster Projects (AAFC)
Co-Principle Investigator. Alexander, TW (PI), Abbott DW (Co-PI), Malmuthuge, N. Title: “SCAP-ASC-01 Beef Cluster Activity 9A - Application of glycomics to enhance resilience against bovine respiratory disease.’ Beef and Cattle Research Council Agriscience Cluster Projects (AAFC)
Co-Applicant. Mupondwa, E (PI), Soolanayakanahally, R (Co-PI), Dumonceaux, T, Abbott, DW. Title: “Biomass and thermochemical conversion technologies for renewable fuels and value-added pathways with potential application in Northern, Indigenous, and remote communities of Canada.” Program of Energy Research and Development (PERD)
Co-Applicant. McAllister, TA (PI), Guan, LL (Co-PI), Abbott, DW. Title: “Meta-transcriptomics to better understand and enhance the digestion of forages in the diets of dairy cows.” Agriculture Funding Consortium, Alberta Milk
Principal Investigator. Abbott DW (PI). Title: “Spatial and structural characterization of Canadian seaweeds cultivated by Indigenous communities for cattle health.” 2022 Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Science, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Co-PI. Singer, S (PI), Abbott DW (Co-PI) , Poudel, H. “Characterization of abiotic stress tolerant alfalfa genotypes for beef and dairy production in a changing climate.” RDAR-Agricultural Funding Consortium
Co-Applicant. Gorzelak, M (PI), Yanni, S (Co-PI), Pacheco, A, Theriault, G, Krobel, R, Pogue, S, St. Luce, M, McAllister, TA, Zhang, H, Abbott, DW, Phillips, B, McComb, M, Stephens, E, Donohue, M, Chau, H. Title: “Maximizing agricultural climate solutions through integration of beneficial management practices.” Partner Organizations include: Food Water Wellness Foundation and The Resilience Institute. AAFC-Agricultural Climate Solutions, “Living Labs”

Research and/or project statements

Agricultural Glycomics: Developing methods to study carbohdyrate structure in complex samples, including: animal gut, plants, fungi, seaweeds, and environment.

Carbohydrate active enzyme discovery from sequence datasets and functional characterization of enzyme activity using MultiOMICs and bioinformatics (SACCHARIS).

Fluorescent Polysaccharides (FLA-PS): a glyco-enabling tool to visualize carbohdyrate interactions, study selective metabolism, and sort cells into enriched metagenomes for functional analysis.

Indigenous partnships and student training; weaving traditional and scientific knowledges to explore solutions for the impacts of climate change in agriculture.

Professional activities / interests

Education and awards

PhD, Biochemistry University of Victoria (2005). PhD thesis awarded the University of Victoria Governor General’s Gold Medal (2006) and Nominated for NSERC Silver Medal (2006)

BSc (Great Distinction), BIology (Major), Geography (Concentration), Trinity Western University (2000).

Additional links

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=ZuZ0rZoAAAAJ&hl=en

Key publications

Abbott, D.W., Macauley, M.S., Vocadlo, D.J., and Boraston, A.B. (2008). "Streptococcus pneumoniae endohexosaminidase D: Structural and mechanistic insight into substrate-assisted catalysis in family 85 glycoside hydrolases.", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 284(17), pp. 11676-11689. doi : 10.1074/jbc.M809663200
2009 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W. and Boraston, A.B. (2008). "Structural biology of pectin degradation within Enterobacteraciae.", Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (MMBR), 72(2), pp. 301-316. doi : 10.1128/MMBR.00038-07
2008 - View publication details
Gregg, K.J., Abbott, D.W., and Boraston, A.B. (2008). "Divergent modes of glycan recognition by a new family of carbohydrate-binding modules.", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 283(18), pp. 12604-12613. doi : 10.1074/jbc.M709865200
2008 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Eirín-López, J.M., and Boraston, A.B. (2008). "Insight into ligand diversity and novel biological roles for family 32 carbohydrate binding modules.", Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25(1), pp. 155-167. doi : 10.1093/molbev/msm243
2008 - View publication details
Boraston, A.B., Lammerts van Bueren, A., Ficko-Blean, E., and Abbott, D.W. (2007). "Carbohydrate-protein interactions: Carbohydrate-binding modules.", in Kamerling, J. (ed.) - Comprehensive Glycoscience. From Chemistry to Systems Biology. Vol. 3, Elsevier, pp. 661-696.
2007 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W. and Boraston, A.B. (2007). "A family 2 pectate lyase displays a rare fold and transition metal assisted β-elimination.", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282(48), pp. 35328-35336. doi : 10.1074/jbc.M705511200
2007 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W. and Boraston, A.B. (2007). "Specific recognition of saturated and 4,5-unsaturated hexouronate sugars by a periplasmic binding protein involved in pectin catabolism.", Journal of Molecular Biology, 369(8), pp. 759-770. doi : 10.1016/j.jmb.2007.03.045
2007 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W. and Boraston, A.B. (2007). "The structural basis for exo-polygalacturonase activity in a family 28 glycoside hydrolase.", Journal of Molecular Biology, 368(5), pp. 1215-1222. doi : 10.1016/j.jmb.2007.02.083
2007 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Hyrnuik, S., and Boraston, A.B. (2007). "Identification and characterization of a novel periplasmic polygalacturonic acid binding protein from Yersinia enterocolitica.", Journal of Molecular Biology, 367(4), pp. 1023-1033. doi : 10.1016/j.jmb.2007.01.030
2007 - View publication details
Li, A., Maffey, A.H., Abbott, D.W., Conde e Silva, N., Prunell, A., Siino, J., Churikov, D., Zalensky, A.O., and Ausió, J. (2005). "Characterization of nucleosomes consisting of the human testis/sperm-specific histone H2B variant (hTSH2B).", Biochemistry, 44(7), pp. 2529-2535.
2005 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Chadwick, B.P., Thambirajah, A.A., and Ausió, J. (2005). "Beyond the Xi: MacroH2A chromatin distribution and post-translational modification in an avian system.", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(16), pp. 16437-16445.
2005 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Laszczak, M., Lewis, J.D., Su, H., Moore, S.C., Hills, M.J., Dimitrov, S., and Ausió, J. (2004). "Structural characterization of macroH2A containing chromatin.", Biochemistry, 43(5), pp. 1352-1359.
2004 - View publication details
Gautier, T., Abbott, D.W., Molla, A., Verdel, A., Ausió, J., and Dimitrov, S. (2004). "Histone variant H2A-Bbd confers lower stability to the nucleosome.", European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBRO) Reports, 5(7), pp. 715-720.
2004 - View publication details
Lewis, J.D., Abbott, D.W., and Ausió, J. (2003). "A haploid affair: Core histone transitions during spermatogenesis.", Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 81(3), pp. 131-140.
2003 - View publication details
Ausió, J. and Abbott, D.W. (2002). "The many tales of a tail. Carboxyl terminal tail heterogeneity specializes histone H2A variants for defined chromatin function.", Biochemistry, 41(19), pp. 5945-5949.
2002 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Wang, X., and Moore, S.C. (2001). "Histone variants and histone modifications. A structural perspective.", Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 79(6), pp. 693-708.
2001 - View publication details
Abbott, D.W., Ivanova, V.S., Wang, X., Bonner, W.M., and Ausió, J. (2001). "Characterization of the stability and folding of H2A.Z containing chromatin particles. Implications for transcriptional activation.", Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276(45), pp. 41945-41949.
2001 - View publication details