Signatures of positive selection and local adaptation to urbanization in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus)

Linking genome signatures of selection and adaptation in non-model plants: exploring potential and limitations in the angiosperm Amborella

Selective sweeps may be caused by environmental conditions that select for a gene function or trait at one locus, causing reduced variation at neighboring sites due to linkage, with specific non-selected variants being swept along with the selected variant. For many species, genomic and environmental data are available to test hypotheses that environmental conditions are correlated with selected regions. Most genomic studies relating selection to environment use model organisms or crop species; typically, these studies have genomic data from large numbers of individuals and extensive environmental data. Here, we review studies associating selective sweeps with environment and consider the impediments to successful application of these methods to non-model species. We present an initial investigation into linking genomic regions of selection to environmental conditions in the narrowly distributed, non-model plant Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae), the sister species to all other living flowering plants and one of over 2500 plant species endemic to New Caledonia.

Enhanced access to anthropogenic food waste is related to hyperglycemia in raccoons (Procyon lotor)

Urban landscapes have well-known effects on wildlife populations. Many species of urban wildlife feed on anthropogenic food wastes, and little is known regarding the sub-lethal physiological consequences of this novel diet. We use samples from three populations of raccoons to test the hypothesis that access to anthropogenic food waste will lead to elevated body mass, blood glucose and serum leptin. Each population varied in their presumed access to food waste. We found that raccoons from the site with the highest presumed access to food waste were significantly heavier and had significantly higher levels of glycated serum protein (GSP, a marker of elevated blood glucose). In addition, GSP concentration was positively related to body mass. No significant differences in serum leptin were detected, nor was serum leptin related to body mass. Urban diets may have significant physiological consequences for urban wildlife related to glucose metabolism. Further research will be needed to determine the evolutionary consequences of the novel urban diet, and whether adaptation is occurring.