Population genomics of rapidly evolving functional gene motifs

我们目前正处于全球变暖的时期，这对世界各地的物种分布产生了巨大的影响。许多物种的北部范围边界正在发生地理扩张，而其南部外围分布的范围边缘则受到生境不适宜以及人为活动和生物压力增加导致的隔离加剧的影响。这些分布变化将对生物多样性和生态过程产生深远的影响。预计气候变化的快速步伐将显著影响未来野生动物的季节时序（物候）、范围分布和生理，对繁殖的影响将尤为显著。了解在较高变化率下运行的遗传变异和基因组元素如何促进适应性，对于野生动物种群的“响应能力”或“适应潜力”将是重要的。下一代基因组平台的进步应用于飞鼠（Glaucomys）和鹿鼠（Peromyscus）的综合研究，将提供一个适应随着温度和范围变化而变化的光周期的模型。这项研究将为其他哺乳动物提供一个框架，以评估对短寿命和长寿命哺乳动物的影响，以及季节性和更灵活的繁殖策略。最近认识到有必要识别和描述对气候变化作出反应的基因。针对可能迅速变化的基因基序，以跟上环境变化的速度，是在保护和景观基因组学新兴领域从相关的纬度发现转向机制理解的重要第一步：这是开发物种自然恢复力模型的关键组成部分，并可能通过绘制和维持适应性功能遗传多样性来实施解决方案，例如连接保护区。

We are currently in a period of global warming that is having dramatic effects on species distributions worldwide. Geographic expansions of northern range boundaries are occurring for many species, while the range margins at their southern peripheral distribution are impacted by less suitable habitat and increased isolation resulting from anthropogenic activities and increased biotic stress. These distributional changes will have profound effects on biodiversity and ecological processes. The rapid pace of climate change is predicted to significantly impact the future seasonal timing (phenology), range distribution and physiology of wildlife and the impacts on reproduction will be particularly significant. Understanding how standing genetic variation and genomic elements operating at higher rates of change contribute to adaptability will be important to wildlife populations "response capacity" or "adaptive potential". The advancement of next-generation genomic platforms applied to the comprehensive study of flying squirrels (Glaucomys) and deer mice (Peromyscus) will provide a model of adaptability to shifting photoperiods with warming temperatures and range shifts. This study will provide a framework to apply to other mammals to assess impacts on short- and long-lived mammals as well as seasonal and more flexible breeding strategies. There is a significant and recently recognized need to identify and characterize the genes responding to climate change. Targeting gene motifs that may rapidly change to key up with the rate of environmental change is an important first step to move from correlative findings with latitude to a mechanistic understanding within the emerging fields of Conservation and Landscape Genomics: critical components in developing models on a species' natural resilience and potentially implementing solutions, such as connected protected areas, by mapping and maintaining adaptive functional genetic diversity.