Population and landscape genomics of rapidly evolving gene motifs and introgressive hybridization and their role in adaptation

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。此外，杂交的显着增加是由于以前分离的物种之间的更多的二次接触。这些分布变化和物种相互作用将对生物多样性和生态过程产生深远影响。了解长期遗传变异和基因组元素如何以更高的变化率运作，以及杂交对适应性的贡献，对于确定野生动物种群的“反应能力”或“适应潜力”至关重要。靶向基因基序可能会迅速改变，以适应环境变化的速度，这是重要的第一步，而编码三核苷酸重复序列，最常见的与人类遗传疾病相关，实际上可能是重要的自然选择因子，可以跟上当代气候变化和范围重新分配到新环境。下一代测序平台的进步，适用于表征这些重复在全面的研究飞鼠（Glaucomys）和鹿鼠（Peromyscus）将有助于我们的理解与这些可变的编码重复基序的适应基因组学。此外，这些物种经历了最近的杂交，从而允许评估基因转移之间的南方和北方物种在每个属。一项关于驯养水貂与野生种群以及逃逸养殖水貂和野生水貂杂交的地区的研究，将进一步评估这些重复图案的潜在动态性质，这些重复图案在圈养选择压力方面经历了重大变化，随后逃逸并重新进入自然环境，并与当地自然种群杂交。这些“模式”物种的分子遗传学研究将提供重要的洞察力的作用，迅速演变的基因组元素和杂交的能力，促进人口的能力，以适应不断变化的当地环境。这项研究对于政府研究人员、政策制定者以及工业界来说非常重要，可以更充分地了解未来野生动物物种和濒危物种的大范围重新分布所需的缓解措施，而不仅仅是当前环境景观的“快照”。鉴于加拿大自然资源工业的日益发展，这将产生更有效的管理战略，以保持自然种群的适应潜力。

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. Furthermore, notable increases in hybridization are resulting from more secondary contact between previously isolated species. These distributional changes and species interactions will have profound effects on biodiversity and ecological processes. Understanding how standing genetic variation and genomic elements operating at higher rates of change, and hybridization all contribute to adaptability will be important to determining a wildlife population’s "response capacity" or "adaptive potential". Targeting gene motifs that may rapidly change to key up with the rate of environmental change is an important first step and coding trinucleotide repeats, most commonly associated with human genetic diseases, may in fact be important natural agents under selection that can keep pace with the contemporary climate change and range redistribution into novel environments. The advancement of next-generation sequencing platforms applied to characterizing these repeats in comprehensive studies of flying squirrels (Glaucomys) and deer mice (Peromyscus) will contribute to our understanding of the genomics of adaptation associated with these variable coding repeat motifs. Furthermore, these species have undergone very recent hybridization, thereby allowing an assessment of the transfer of genes between the southern and northern species within each genera. A study on domesticated mink compared to wild populations, as well as areas where escape farmed mink and wild mink interbreed, will further assess the potential dynamic nature of these repeat motifs having experienced significant shifts in selection pressures in captivity, with subsequent escape and re-entry into natural surroundings and interbreeding with natural local populations. A molecular genetic study of these “model” species will provide important insight into the role rapidly evolving genomic elements and the capacity of hybridization have on facilitating a populations ability to adapt to changing local environments. This research is important for government researchers, policy makers as well as industry to more fully understand the mitigation that will be required with significant range re-distribution of wildlife species and species-at-risk in the future, and not just the current "snapshot" of the environmental landscape. This will yield more effective management strategies to maintain the adaptive potential of natural populations given the increasing development of natural resource industries in Canada.