Evolutionary Applications最新文献

{"title":"Population Genomics Reveals Genetic Diversity, Introgression, and Genetic Differentiation in Tianshan Mountains Western Honeybees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>).","authors":"Gulinuer Tulaxi, Baheitiya Abaidula, Fengfeng Shi, Naisibai Parihati, Yilidana Dilixiati, Caixue Yang, Ming Li, Arong Luo, Jiwei Qi, Chaodong Zhu, Hongying Hu","doi":"10.1111/eva.70248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70248","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Tianshan Mountains, which host two native subspecies of western honeybees, represent the easternmost natural distribution limit of <i>Apis mellifera</i>. The managed Xinjiang black honeybee (<i>XJ</i>), introduced a century ago and designated as a Chinese National Animal Genetic Resource, has expanded rapidly under anthropogenic management. However, this expansion simultaneously threatens populations of native subspecies <i>Apis mellifera sinisxinyuan</i> and <i>Apis mellifera pomonella</i>. Herein, we performed the first whole-genome resequencing of the <i>XJ</i> population and analyzed whole-genome data from 19 <i>XJ</i> workers and 172 global <i>A. mellifera</i> samples to clarify the evolutionary history of <i>XJ</i> and evaluate its interactions with native bees. Population structure and phylogenomic analyses showed that <i>XJ</i> clustered within C lineage but formed a divergent clade distinct from other C lineage subspecies, with the closest affinity to <i>Apis mellifera carnica</i> (FST = 0.053). Despite higher inbreeding than other C lineage subspecies, <i>XJ</i> displayed comparatively higher genetic diversity (Θπ = 2.15 × 10^-3) and heterozygosity (0.0028) than other C lineage populations (0.0015), although <i>XJ</i>'s value falls within the global range of <i>A. mellifera</i>. This genetic pattern can be attributed to substantial introgression (~10%-15%) from the M lineage, specifically from the native <i>A. m. sinisxinyuan</i>. TreeMix and F-branch analysis identified significant gene flow from <i>A. m. sinisxinyuan</i> into the ancestral population of the <i>XJ</i>. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that genes within introgressed regions are involved in cold adaptation and foraging efficiency, and independent transcriptome validation confirmed differential expression of key candidate genes (e.g., LOC552291/MCM4) within these introgressed regions. Overall, our findings indicate that <i>XJ</i> represents an introduced population that has undergone regional adaptation, facilitated by the introgression of potentially adaptive alleles from native taxa. This case underscores the need for conservation strategies balancing management of economically valuable populations with protection of native lineages from genetic swamping and ecological competition.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70248"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13148138/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147831337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Conspecific Scaffold-Level Genome Assembly Outperforms Heterospecific Chromosome-Level Assemblies for Assessing Genetic Indicators in a Threatened Marine Fish.","authors":"Mannda Ndou, Warren Mason Potts, Tuan Anh Duong, Peter Rodja Teske, Amber-Robyn Childs, Romina Henriques","doi":"10.1111/eva.70247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70247","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the genomic architecture of species of conservation concern is essential for fostering effective conservation initiatives. Current biodiversity assessment approaches increasingly incorporate genetic metrics to evaluate the status of species and populations of conservation interest. However, due to the limited availability of conspecific genomes for most non-model species, previous studies have often depended on heterospecific genomes. This approach has been shown to significantly impact the precision of genetic metrics, resulting in inaccurate measurements and insights. However, it is currently unknown what the impact of using non-species-specific genomes is for the determination of genetic indicators in vulnerable marine fishes, such as red roman (<i>Chrysoblephus laticeps</i>). Red roman is a southern African endemic species, which, due to overexploitation, is currently considered Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Recent studies have shown significant life history and physiological differences between exploited and protected populations. Here, we present the first high-quality scaffold-level genome assembly and annotations for the red roman, using a combination of Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing, and compared key genetic indicators (diversity, population structure and effective population size) obtained from reads mapped to the genomes of other Sparidae species, with well-established genomic resources. The final assembly had 1263 scaffolds, a total length of 758 Mb, with a scaffold N50 of 5.89 Mb and Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) completeness of 99.30%. As expected, comparative analyses with genomes of different sparid species revealed enhanced read alignment, genotyping accuracy and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) retention after filtering. Furthermore, there were significant overall differences across the genomes for the measures of observed heterozygosity (<i>H</i> _O), nucleotide diversity (<i>π</i>), Tajima's <i>D</i>, <i>F</i> _ST and estimates of effective population size (<i>N</i> _e), with different genomes presenting different (and sometimes contrasting) genetic indicators metrics and, consequently, demographic histories for red roman. Our study not only significantly improved genomic resources for genomic conservation analyses in <i>C. laticeps</i>, but most importantly highlighted the importance of species-specific reference genomes for accurate evolutionary and conservation inference in highly variable marine fishes.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70247"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13144753/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147831149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dams and Introduced Species Drive Patterns of Environmental Adaptation in an Iconic but Imperiled Coldwater Fish (Brook Trout, <i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i>).","authors":"Nadya Mamoozadeh, Arthur Cooper, Henry Quinlan, Anna Varian, Dana Infante, Mariah Meek","doi":"10.1111/eva.70239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70239","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Freshwater biodiversity is being disproportionately negatively impacted by anthropogenic stressors including climate change, partly due to limited opportunities to seek more favorable conditions compared to marine and terrestrial species. Management plans that maintain locally adapted genotypes, and integrate active management interventions where needed, are vital for curbing further biodiversity loss but require information on environmental adaptation. Here, we explore environmental adaptation in native populations of a cold-adapted freshwater species (brook trout, <i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i>) with a long history of negative impacts from human-induced stressors and now increasingly affected by climate change. We developed a new restriction site-associated DNA capture panel to genotype 3297 SNPs in over 2200 brook trout from 55 waterways across the Lake Superior basin. We used partial redundancy analyses to identify over 300 SNPs potentially involved in adaptation. Our study is among the first to implicate both movement barriers and introduced species in shaping environmental adaptation, along with climate. System-specific variables for introduced Pacific salmon and stream fragmentation caused by movement barriers exhibited some of the strongest associations with genetic variation, highlighting the role that dams and introduced species-features characteristic of the Great Lakes and much of North America-may play in shaping adaptation in native fishes. We also identified temperature and stream flow as strongly associated with putatively adaptive genetic variation, as reported in other studies. Importantly, these insights were possible given locally derived environmental information, which we analyzed alongside widely accessible broad-scale climate data. Finally, by calculating adaptive index and genomic offset, we identified areas where brook trout appear heterogeneously adapted across the landscape and where locally adapted genotypes may be prone to disruption from climate change. Our findings offer novel insights into environmental adaptation in brook trout and foundational knowledge for developing management plans that conserve the adaptive capacity of populations already experiencing changing conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70239"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13136510/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147831179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scientists' Warning on the Rapid Evolution of Parasites in the Anthropocene.","authors":"Robert Poulin, Jerusha Bennett, Isabel Blasco-Costa, Daniela de Angeli Dutra, Jean-François Doherty, Eddy Dowle, Antoine Filion, Brian L Fredensborg, Ryota Hasegawa, Kristin K Herrmann, Devon B Keeney, Anson V Koehler, Janet Koprivnikar, Clément Lagrue, Henry S Lane, Tommy L F Leung, Chen-Hua Li, Colin D MacLeod, Kim N Mouritsen, Chris N Niebuhr, Katie O'Dwyer, Eunji Park, Rachel A Paterson, Bronwen Presswell, Haseeb S Randhawa, Brandon Ruehle, Amandine Sabadel, Priscila M Salloum, David W Thieltges, Frédéric Thomas, Christian Selbach","doi":"10.1111/eva.70244","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70244","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human activities are changing the natural world at an accelerating pace, and as a consequence exerting novel and often strong selection pressures on living organisms. For species with traits conferring huge inherent evolutionary potential, like parasites, the outcome may be rapid adaptive responses spanning multiple phenotypic traits. The rise of drug resistance in parasites of domesticated animals is well documented; however, rapid changes in other key parasite traits may go unnoticed. In this contribution to the Scientists' Warning series, we argue that parasites are capable of evolving quickly to meet the new pressures of the Anthropocene. After summarizing evidence demonstrating their ability to evolve quickly and the magnitude of the anthropogenic selection pressures they now face, we discuss the basic types of adaptive responses we might expect. Next, we propose methods to track rapid parasite evolution in real time, as well as possible approaches to either slow it down or mitigate its impact on animal production systems. Our aim is to raise awareness of this concerning but underappreciated phenomenon and appeal for greater research into rapid parasite evolution in the Anthropocene and its consequences.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70244"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13122726/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Flexible Method for Genomics-Based Quantitative Genetics in Wild Study Systems-A Case Study on a House Sparrow Meta-Population.","authors":"Janne C H Aspheim, Kenneth Aase, Geir H Bolstad, Henrik Jensen, Stefanie Muff","doi":"10.1111/eva.70242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70242","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As larger genomic data sets become available for wild study populations, the need for flexible and efficient methods to estimate and predict quantitative genetic parameters, such as the adaptive potential and measures for genetic change, increases. Even though animal and plant breeders, as well as the field of human genomics, have produced a wealth of methods, wild study systems often face challenges due to larger effective population sizes, environmental heterogeneity and higher spatio-temporal variation. Existing approaches either rely on two-step procedures, where residuals from a pre-fitted model are used as the response in a second analysis, or can become computationally inefficient as model complexity and data size increase. We therefore adapt methods from animal breeding to account for the complexity typically present in wild animal populations. The core idea is to approximate breeding values as a linear combination of principal components (PCs), where the PC effects are shrunk with Bayesian ridge regression. The result is a computationally efficient and scalable approach, denoted Bayesian principal component ridge regression (BPCRR). A case-study for a Norwegian house sparrow meta-population, as well as simulations, illustrate that the method efficiently estimates the additive genetic variance and accurately predicts breeding values. In order to assess whether BPCRR predicts informative breeding values, we also apply BPCRR to track micro-evolutionary change across time and space in the house sparrow system. To make the method accessible, we provide coded examples and data.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70242"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13112192/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolution of Ivermectin Resistance in the Nematode Model <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>: Critical Influence of Population Size and Altered Emodepside Efficacy.","authors":"Jacqueline Hellinga, Barbora Trubenova, Jessica Wagner, Marc Borchert, Jürgen Krücken, Roland R Regoes, Hinrich Schulenburg, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna","doi":"10.1111/eva.70241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70241","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The emergence and spread of anthelmintic resistance represent a major challenge for treating parasitic nematodes, threatening mass-drug administration control programs in humans and zoonotic hosts. Currently, experimental evidence to understand the influence of management (e.g., treatment dose and frequency) and parasite-associated factors (e.g., genetic variation, population size and mutation rates) is scarce. To rectify this knowledge gap, we performed controlled evolution experiments with the model nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> and further evaluated the evolution dynamics with a computational model. Large population size was critical for rapid ivermectin resistance evolution in vitro and in silico. Male nematode production was favored during resistance evolution, suggesting a selective advantage of sexual recombination under drug pressure in vitro. Evolution of ivermectin resistance led to reduced efficacy of the structurally related anthelmintic moxidectin, as anticipated, as well as reduced efficacy of the structurally unrelated anthelmintic emodepside, which has a distinct mode of action. In contrast, albendazole, levamisole, and monepantel efficacy were not influenced by the evolution of ivermectin resistance. We conclude that combining computational modeling with in vitro evolution experiments to test specific aspects of evolution directly represents a promising approach to guide the development of novel treatment strategies to anticipate and mitigate resistance evolution in parasitic nematodes.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70241"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13108422/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Urbanisation Drives Microevolution in the Egyptian Fruit Bat (<i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i>).","authors":"Yomiran Nissan, Shani Inbar, Eyal Privman, Yossi Yovel, Orly Razgour","doi":"10.1111/eva.70243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70243","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Urbanisation is a pervasive global phenomenon that exerts strong influence on biodiversity and ecosystems. Many species can thrive in urban landscapes by capitalising on generalist traits and environmental resilience; however, this does not safeguard against potential biases exerted by urban environments on population processes. The Egyptian fruit bat (<i>Rousettus aegyptiacus</i>) is a species with both urban and rural distribution across its range, and some populations show behavioural and physiological differences. Using reduced representation genome sequencing (ddRAD-seq), we tested for genetic underpinnings of these differences between urban and rural bat populations sampled across Israel. Despite a genetically homogenous landscape presenting no population structure, we show clear isolation by distance and landscape effects on genetic connectivity, where open areas, but not urbanisation, constitute a barrier to movement. Using genotype-environment association analysis, we identify 59 candidate SNPs spanning 56 genes potentially associated with urbanisation. This suite of genes entails wide-ranging functions including neurotransmission, metabolism, gene expression regulation, reproductive biology, and retinoic acid and sensory function. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed non-random functional clustering with exceptional enrichment in GABAergic synapse components (98.6-fold), monoatomic ion transport (122.2-fold), and ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling (68.6-fold), evidencing coordinated selection across interconnected neural, metabolic, and regulatory systems. A predominance of intronic variants within this candidate SNP suite (51/59) is suggestive that adaptation in response to urbanisation proceeds primarily through changes in gene regulation, rather than protein-coding modifications. This study shows how a highly mobile species may undergo microevolutionary shifts in response to urban pressures despite ongoing gene flow, elucidating the complex interplay between genetics and the urban environment in a non-model organism.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70243"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13108426/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Multi-City Assessment of Genomic Evolution in the Native Wildflower <i>Impatiens capensis</i>.","authors":"L Ruth Rivkin, Colin J Garroway, Marc T J Johnson","doi":"10.1111/eva.70218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70218","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Urbanization is a major driver of environmental change that shapes the evolution of populations. However, the environmental differences amongst cities and their effects on neutral and adaptive evolution are less well understood. We investigated the contribution of city-level variation to patterns of genetic evolution in <i>Impatiens capensis</i>, a native wildflower found in parks and green spaces in many cities across eastern North America. While the mixed mating system and flexible pollination requirements of <i>I. capensis</i> likely contribute to its resilience to urbanization, microenvironmental differences among cities may shape how this species evolves in cities. We used genotype-by-sequencing to evaluate genetic variation, contemporary demographic history, and genetic signatures of local adaptation in plants sampled from urban and rural sites across 10 cities in Ontario, Canada. Urbanization and city size shaped the amount of genetic diversity present at sites and were associated with fine-scale spatial genetic structure. We identified a signal of repeated population bottlenecks across all cities, corresponding to the timing of rapid urban expansion in the region. City size was the environmental predictor most strongly associated with multilocus selection, highlighting the contribution of city variation to adaptive genomic evolution. Our findings provide one of the first examples of parallel demographic shifts in response to urbanization in plants and offer insights into why a native wildflower like <i>I. capensis</i> may be particularly resilient to urbanization. Taken together, our results emphasize the role that urban parks can play in maintaining genetic diversity and facilitating adaptation, suggesting that prioritizing greenspace conservation is critical for promoting urban biodiversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 4","pages":"e70218"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13103269/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Landscape Genomic Analyses of <i>Quercus agrifolia</i> Née Predict Patterns of Adaptedness to Future Climate and Provide Guidance for Conservation.","authors":"Ryan C Buck, H Scott Butterfield, Elizabeth Hiroyasu, Jeanette Howard, John Knapp, Zachary Principe, Victoria L Sork","doi":"10.1111/eva.70224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70224","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Habitat destruction and climate change are two primary drivers of global biodiversity loss. Many contemporary ecological preserves and preserve networks are designed to protect species and the ecological and evolutionary processes that will maintain future biodiversity. However, it is challenging to identify where to locate preserves and how to manage them to meet these goals. One emerging conservation tool is landscape genomics, which allows us to identify populations that may be maladapted to future climate and thereby helps prioritize areas for acquisition (areas of high adaptedness), restoration (areas of low adaptedness), and management. Here, using whole genome sequence data of 171 adult trees, we studied the climate adaptedness of California populations of coast live oak (<i>Quercus agrifolia</i>), a foundation species that broadly supports biodiversity, to develop a conservation management strategy, including direct acquisition, land management, and restoration that addresses the predicted impact of future climate. Over the range of coast live oak, we find that the northernmost and southernmost stands are predicted to be more at risk for maladaptation to climate change, with the central coast of California containing stands with high adaptedness, including in unprotected areas that might benefit from protection. Using three large preserves (focal sites) managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), we illustrate how moving seeds from low to high elevation parts of preserves could benefit future populations range-wide by increasing overall climate adaptedness. We discuss the different levels of risk across focal sites and apply our interpretations into TNC's 400,000 + -acre conservation holdings in California to sustain future populations of this foundational tree species. This study represents a unique collaboration between academic and applied conservation scientists to both assess levels of maladaptedness of a foundational tree to predicted climate change and also develop a genomic-informed seed transfer program to improve adaptedness of future populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 4","pages":"e70224"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13097008/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The LAST Mile: Evaluating Genetic Biocontrol as a Supplemental Tool for Eradicating Invasive Rodents on Islands.","authors":"Aysegul Birand, Bruce A Hay, Matthew Combs, Luke Gierus, Katherine E Horak, Kevin P Oh, Louise J Robertson, Paul Q Thomas, Ana M Velasquez-Escobar, David J Will, Maciej Maselko, Antoinette J Piaggio","doi":"10.1111/eva.70238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70238","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Invasive rodents cause severe ecosystem degradation on islands and can be challenging to eradicate. Current best-practices rely on the application of toxic oral baits and have led to successful eradications and remarkable recoveries of native flora and fauna. Yet this single method is not universally applicable. Genetic biocontrol offers a suite of new solutions to potentially improve outcomes in the critical \"last mile\" of eradication. These approaches involve the release of genetically modified individuals of the target species to reduce population fitness over time. These include self-limiting approaches which require multiple releases and self-sustaining mechanisms (i.e., select gene-drive systems) which could theoretically collapse populations after a single release. While gene drive systems have received significant attention, their development in vertebrates remains technically challenging, and their ecological and regulatory implications are still in active debate. In contrast, some non-drive genetic biocontrol approaches, such as Y-linked editors, fsRIDL, and Gravid Lethal, offer self-limiting alternatives that may be more immediately deployable. These approaches could be used to supplement toxicant-based methods and may also have reduced environmental risks and regulatory barriers. To evaluate the potential of these tools, we developed an individual-based model simulating the eradication of house mice (<i>Mus musculus</i>) on a 125 ha island with an initial population of 11,000 individuals. We tested various combinations of genetic biocontrol release and effort strategies to understand tradeoffs between required effort and uncertainty for achieving successful eradication. Under certain effort strategies, we found that the Gravid Lethal approach performed the best, achieving eradication in < 2.3 years with intensive release effort and monitoring. Our findings suggest that integrating non-drive genetic biocontrol into adaptive management frameworks could enhance the effectiveness and feasibility of rodent eradication programs. These tools are not replacements for toxicants but may serve as critical supplements-particularly in the \"last mile\" of eradication.</p>","PeriodicalId":168,"journal":{"name":"Evolutionary Applications","volume":"19 ","pages":"e70238"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13092493/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147758320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}