Ultraconserved Elements Reveal the Relationship Between Facultative Keratinophagy and Synanthropic Evolution in Clothes Moths.

Synanthropic species live in close association with, or benefit from, humans. Despite their potential impacts to human health, little is known about the mechanisms driving synanthropic life-history evolution, evolutionary forces shaping diet among synanthropes, or how these combined factors affect population dynamics and/or speciation. The Tineidae moth family contains several synanthropic species, including the globally distributed pest species Tineola bissellellia, that contribute to the ~$1 billion worth of damage caused annually by keratinophagous synanthropes.

Genomics of urban adaptation and exaptation in mosquitoes and consequences for vectorial capacity.

As urbanization accelerates around the world, mosquitoes that are capable of surviving and thriving in urban habitats increasingly spread mosquito-borne diseases. Across the >3500 known species of mosquitoes, only a few rapidly adapted to the novel (on an evolutionary timescale) urban environments. In this review, we highlight several emerging themes and testable hypotheses from recent literature.

Cryptic coral diversity is associated with symbioses, physiology, and response to thermal challenge.

Coral persistence in the Anthropocene depends on interactions among holobiont partners (coral animals and microbial symbionts) and their environment. Cryptic coral lineages-genetically distinct yet morphologically similar groups-are critically important as they often exhibit functional diversity relevant to thermal tolerance. In addition, environmental parameters such as thermal variability may promote tolerance, but how variability interacts with holobiont partners to shape responses to thermal challenge remains unclear.

Integrating cryptic diversity into coral evolution, symbiosis and conservation.

Understanding how diversity evolves and is maintained is critical to predicting the future trajectories of ecosystems under climate change; however, our understanding of these processes is limited in marine systems. Corals, which engineer reef ecosystems, are critically threatened by climate change, and global efforts are underway to conserve and restore populations as attempts to mitigate ocean warming continue. Recently, sequencing efforts have uncovered widespread undescribed coral diversity, including 'cryptic lineages'-genetically distinct but morphologically similar coral taxa.

Marine heatwaves threaten cryptic coral diversity and erode associations among coevolving partners.

Climate change-amplified marine heatwaves can drive extensive mortality in foundation species. However, a paucity of longitudinal genomic datasets has impeded understanding of how these rapid selection events alter cryptic genetic structure. Heatwave impacts may be exacerbated in species that engage in obligate symbioses, where the genetics of multiple coevolving taxa may be affected.

Starvation decreases immunity and immune regulatory factor NF-κB in the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.

Lack of proper nutrition has important consequences for the physiology of all organisms, and nutritional status can affect immunity, based on many studies in terrestrial animals. Here we show a positive correlation between nutrition and immunity in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Gene expression profiling of adult anemones shows downregulation of genes involved in nutrient metabolism, cellular respiration, and immunity in starved animals.

Genetic divergence and range expansion in a western North Pacific coral.

Coral poleward range expansions have recently been observed in response to warming oceans. Range expansion can lead to reduced genetic diversity and increased frequency of deleterious mutations that were rare in core populations, potentially limiting the ability for adaptation and persistence in novel environments. Successful expansions that overcome these founder effects and colonize new habitat have been attributed to multiple introductions from different sources, hybridization with native populations, or rapid adaptive evolution.

A framework for understanding gene expression plasticity and its influence on stress tolerance.

Phenotypic plasticity can serve as a stepping stone towards adaptation. Recently, studies have shown that gene expression contributes to emergent stress responses such as thermal tolerance, with tolerant and susceptible populations showing distinct transcriptional profiles. However, given the dynamic nature of gene expression, interpreting transcriptomic results in a way that elucidates the functional connection between gene expression and the observed stress response is challenging.