ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5692-0899
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-11-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-01-2022
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.16347
Abstract: Understanding the mechanisms allowing invasive species to adapt to novel environments is a challenge in invasion biology. Many invaders demonstrate rapid evolution of behavioural traits involved in range expansion such as locomotor activity, exploration and risk‐taking. However, the molecular mechanisms that underpin these changes are poorly understood. In 86 years, invasive cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) in Australia have drastically expanded their geographic range westward from coastal Queensland to Western Australia. During their range expansion, toads have undergone extensive phenotypic changes, particularly in behaviours that enhance the toads’ dispersal ability. Common‐garden experiments have shown that some changes in behavioural traits related to dispersal are heritable. At the molecular level, it is currently unknown whether these changes in dispersal‐related behaviour are underlain by small or large differences in gene expression, nor is known the biological function of genes showing differential expression. Here, we used RNA‐seq to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying dispersal‐related behavioural changes. We compared the brain transcriptomes of toads from the Hawai'ian source population, as well as three distinct populations from across the Australian invasive range. We found markedly different gene expression profiles between the source population and Australian toads. By contrast, toads from across the Australian invasive range had very similar transcriptomic profiles. Yet, key genes with functions putatively related to dispersal behaviour showed differential expression between populations located at each end of the invasive range. These genes could play an important role in the behavioural changes characteristic of range expansion in Australian cane toads.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 28-09-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.09.27.462079
Abstract: Understanding the mechanisms underlying rapid adaptation of invasive species in novel environments is key to improving our ability to manage these species. Many invaders demonstrate rapid evolution of behavioural traits involved in range expansion such as locomotor activity, exploration and risk-taking. However, the molecular mechanisms that underpin these changes are poorly understood. In 86 years, invasive cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) in Australia have drastically expanded their geographic range westward from coastal Queensland to Western Australia. During their range expansion, toads have undergone extensive phenotypic changes, particularly in behaviours that enhance the toads’ dispersal ability. Common-garden experiments have shown that some changes in behavioural traits related to dispersal are heritable. However, genetic ersity is greatly reduced across the invasive range due to a strong founder effect, and the genetic basis underlying dispersal-related behavioural changes remains unknown. Here we used RNA-seq to compare the brain transcriptomes of toads from the Hawai’ian source population, as well as three distinct populations from across the Australian invasive range. We found markedly different gene expression profiles between the source population and Australian toads. By contrast, cane toads from across the Australian invasive range had very similar transcriptomic profiles. Yet, key genes with functions putatively related to dispersal behaviour showed differential expression between range-core and range-front populations. These genes could play an important role in the behavioural changes characteristic of range expansion in Australian cane toads.
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Andrea West.