Population genomics of rapidly evolving functional gene motifs

我们目前正处于全球变暖的时期，这对全世界的物种分布产生了巨大的影响。许多物种的北方分布区边界在地理上正在扩大，而其南部周边分布区的范围边缘则受到不太适宜的生境以及人类活动和生物压力增加造成的隔离程度增加的影响。这些分布变化将对生物多样性和生态过程产生深远影响。预计气候变化的快速步伐将对未来的季节性时间（物候学）、范围分布和野生动物的生理产生重大影响，对繁殖的影响将特别重大。了解长期存在的遗传变异和基因组元素如何以更高的变化率对适应性做出贡献，对野生动物种群的“反应能力”或“适应潜力”至关重要。应用于飞鼠（Glaucomys）和鹿鼠（Peromyscus）综合研究的下一代基因组平台的进步将提供一个适应温度和范围变化的光周期变化的模型。这项研究将提供一个适用于其他哺乳动物的框架，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。有一个重要的和最近认识到的需要，以确定和表征基因对气候变化的反应。靶向基因基序可能会迅速改变，以适应环境变化的速度，这是从与纬度相关的发现转向对保护和景观基因组学新兴领域的机械理解的重要的第一步：开发物种自然复原力模型和可能实施解决方案的关键组成部分，例如连接保护区，通过绘制和维持适应性功能遗传多样性。

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.