Chromosome-level genome assembly and methylome profile yield insights for the conservation of endangered loggerhead sea turtles.

Background: Characterizing genetic and epigenetic diversity is crucial for assessing the adaptive potential of threatened populations and species in the face of climate change. Sea turtles are particularly vulnerable due to their temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) system, which heightens the risk of extreme sex ratio bias and extinction under future climate scenarios. High-quality genomic and epigenomic resources will therefore support conservation efforts for these endangered flagship species with such plastic traits.

DNA Methylation Carries Signatures of Sublethal Effects Under Thermal Stress in Loggerhead Sea Turtles.

To date, studies of the impacts of climate warming on individuals and populations have mostly focused on mortality and thermal tolerance. In contrast, much less is known about the consequences of sublethal effects, which are more challenging to detect, particularly in wild species with cryptic life histories. This necessitates the development of molecular tools to identify their signatures.

Naked mole-rats have distinctive cardiometabolic and genetic adaptations to their underground low-oxygen lifestyles.

The naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber is a eusocial mammal exhibiting extreme longevity (37-year lifespan), extraordinary resistance to hypoxia and absence of cardiovascular disease. To identify the mechanisms behind these exceptional traits, metabolomics and RNAseq of cardiac tissue from naked mole-rats was compared to other African mole-rat genera (Cape, Cape dune, Common, Natal, Mahali, Highveld and Damaraland mole-rats) and evolutionarily divergent mammals (Hottentot golden mole and C57/BL6 mouse). We identify metabolic and genetic adaptations unique to naked mole-rats including elevated glycogen, thus enabling glycolytic ATP generation during cardiac ischemia.

The elusive role of prolactin in the sociality of the naked mole-rat.

Despite decades of research into the evolutionary drivers of sociality, we know relatively little about the underlying proximate mechanisms. Here we investigate the potential role of prolactin in the highly social naked mole-rat. Naked mole-rats live in large social groups but, only a small number of individuals reproduce.

eDNAir: proof of concept that animal DNA can be collected from air sampling.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is one of the fastest developing tools for species biomonitoring and ecological research. However, despite substantial interest from research, commercial and regulatory sectors, it has remained primarily a tool for aquatic systems with a small amount of work in substances such as soil, snow and rain. Here we demonstrate that eDNA can be collected from air and used to identify mammals.

The relationship between individual phenotype and the division of labour in naked mole-rats: it's complicated.

Background: The naked mole-rat ( is among the most social mammals on the planet, living in eusocial groups of up to 300 individuals that contain a single reproductive female and up to three reproductive males. A critical aspect of their complex social system is the division of labour that allows non-breeders to form an effective workforce. Age- or weight-based polyethisms are widely cited as explanations for how labour is divided, but evidence in support of these hypotheses has been equivocal.

Larval exposure to field-realistic concentrations of clothianidin has no effect on development rate, over-winter survival or adult metabolic rate in a solitary bee, .

There is widespread concern regarding the effects of agro-chemical exposure on bee health, of which neonicotinoids, systemic insecticides detected in the pollen and nectar of both crops and wildflowers, have been the most strongly debated. The majority of studies examining the effect of neonicotinoids on bees have focussed on social species, namely honey bees and bumble bees. However, most bee species are solitary, their life histories differing considerably from these social species, and thus it is possible that their susceptibility to pesticides may be quite different.

The evolution of parental care in insects: A test of current hypotheses.

Which sex should care for offspring is a fundamental question in evolution. Invertebrates, and insects in particular, show some of the most diverse kinds of parental care of all animals, but to date there has been no broad comparative study of the evolution of parental care in this group. Here, we test existing hypotheses of insect parental care evolution using a literature-compiled phylogeny of over 2000 species.

Thrips domiciles protect larvae from desiccation in an arid environment.

Desiccation is a particular risk for small animals in arid environments. In response, many organisms "construct niches," favorable microenvironments where they spend part or all of their life cycle. Some maintain such environments for their offspring via parental care.

Functional equivalence of grasping cerci and nuptial food gifts in promoting ejaculate transfer in katydids.

The function of nuptial gifts has generated longstanding debate. Nuptial gifts consumed during ejaculate transfer may allow males to transfer more ejaculate than is optimal for females. However, gifts may simultaneously represent male investment in offspring.

Cytochrome b divergence between avian sister species is linked to generation length and body mass.

It is increasingly realised that the molecular clock does not tick at a constant rate. Rather, mitochondrial mutation rates are influenced by factors such as generation length and body mass. This has implications for the use of genetic data in species delimitation.

GRASP [Genomic Resource Access for Stoichioproteomics]: comparative explorations of the atomic content of 12 Drosophila proteomes.

Background: "Stoichioproteomics" relates the elemental composition of proteins and proteomes to variation in the physiological and ecological environment. To help harness and explore the wealth of hypotheses made possible under this framework, we introduce GRASP (http://www.graspdb.

Contrasting mechanisms of proteomic nitrogen thrift in Prochlorococcus.

Organisms limited by carbon, nitrogen or sulphur can reduce protein production costs by transitions to less costly amino acids, or by reducing protein expression. These alternative mechanisms of nutrient thrift might respond differently to selection, but this possibility remains untested. We hypothesized that relatively invariant sequence composition responds to long-term variation in nutrient concentrations, whereas dynamic expression profiles vary with nutrient predictability.

Larger testes are associated with a higher level of polyandry, but a smaller ejaculate volume, across bushcricket species (Tettigoniidae).

While early models of ejaculate allocation predicted that both relative testes and ejaculate size should increase with sperm competition intensity across species, recent models predict that ejaculate size may actually decrease as testes size and sperm competition intensity increase, owing to the confounding effect of potential male mating rate. A recent study demonstrated that ejaculate volume decreased in relation to increased polyandry across bushcricket species, but testes mass was not measured. Here, we recorded testis mass for 21 bushcricket species, while ejaculate (ampulla) mass, nuptial gift mass, sperm number and polyandry data were largely obtained from the literature.

Parental care trade-offs and life-history relationships in insects.

Insect parental care is extensive and varied, but its life-history implications have never been comparatively tested. Using original and literature data, we tested predictions about egg size, egg number (lifetime fecundity), and body size under different parental care modes across a phylogeny of 287 insect species. Life-history theory and both comparative and intraspecific evidence from ectotherms suggest parental care should select for bigger, fewer eggs, but that allometric scaling of egg size and lifetime fecundity may depend on whether care consists of provisioning (density-dependent offspring survival) or merely guarding (density-independent offspring survival).