Brain transcriptome analysis reveals gene expression differences associated with dispersal behaviour between range-front and range-core populations of invasive cane toads in Australia.

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 molec

SUBMITTER: Yagound B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303232 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature