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Animals
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Evolution and Speciation of Turtles and Tortoises
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Evolution and Speciation of Turtles and Tortoises

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Herpetology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 5492

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Melita Vamberger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Senckenberg Dresden, Museum of Zoology, Dresden, Germany
Interests: turtles; herpetology; animal ecology genetics; ecology and evolution; biodiversity; conservation; biology; ecology; systematics; taxonomy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Turtles and tortoises are an ancient group of tetrapods capable of massive interspecific hybridization between closely and distantly related taxa. This raises the question of how chelonian species evolve and maintain genetic integrity despite hybridization. The aim of this Special Issue is to collate work on our understanding of evolutionary processes that shape patterns of genetic variation within and between chelonian species (gene flow, hybridization) and the genetic architecture that contributes strongly to the evolvability, speciation, and adaptation. We seek modern integrative research tackling evolutionary questions in chelonians at large scales combining a wide array of biological assays.

Original manuscripts that address any aspects of evolution and speciation are invited for this Special Issue.

Dr. Melita Vamberger
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chelonians
  • evolution
  • speciation
  • gene flow
  • hybridization
  • adaptation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1981 KiB  
Article
Tissue and Temperature-Specific RNA-Seq Analysis Reveals Genomic Versatility and Adaptive Potential in Wild Sea Turtle Hatchlings (Caretta caretta)
by Julie C. Chow, Nia Kyritsis, Micah Mills, Matthew H. Godfrey, Craig A. Harms, Paul E. Anderson and Andrew M. Shedlock
Animals 2021, 11(11), 3013; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113013 - 20 Oct 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3224
Abstract
Background: Digital transcriptomics is rapidly emerging as a powerful new technology for modelling the environmental dynamics of the adaptive landscape in diverse lineages. This is particularly valuable in taxa such as turtles and tortoises (order Testudines) which contain a large fraction of [...] Read more.
Background: Digital transcriptomics is rapidly emerging as a powerful new technology for modelling the environmental dynamics of the adaptive landscape in diverse lineages. This is particularly valuable in taxa such as turtles and tortoises (order Testudines) which contain a large fraction of endangered species at risk due to anthropogenic impacts on the environment, including pollution, overharvest, habitat degradation, and climate change. Sea turtles (family Cheloniidae) in particular invite a genomics-enabled approach to investigating their remarkable portfolio of adaptive evolution. The sex of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is subject to temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), a mechanism by which exposure to temperatures during embryonic development irreversibly determines sex. Higher temperatures produce mainly female turtles and lower temperatures produce mainly male turtles. Incubation temperature can have long term effects on the immunity, migratory ability, and ultimately longevity of hatchlings. We perform RNA-seq differential expression analysis to investigate tissue- and temperature-specific gene expression within brain (n = 7) and gonadal (n = 4) tissue of male and female loggerhead hatchlings. Results: We assemble tissue- and temperature-specific transcriptomes and identify differentially expressed genes relevant to sexual development and life history traits of broad adaptive interest to turtles and other amniotic species. We summarize interactions among differentially expressed genes by producing network visualizations, and highlight shared biological pathways related to migration, immunity, and longevity reported in the avian and reptile literature. Conclusions: The measurement of tissue- and temperature-specific global gene expression of an endangered, flagship species such as the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) reveals the genomic basis for potential resiliency and is crucial to future management and conservation strategies with attention to changing climates. Brain and gonadal tissue collected from experimentally reared loggerhead male and female hatchlings comprise an exceedingly rare dataset that permits the identification of genes enriched in functions related to sexual development, immunity, longevity, and migratory behavior and will serve as a large, new genomic resource for the investigation of genotype–phenotype relationships in amniotes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution and Speciation of Turtles and Tortoises)
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