Understanding how and why populations evolve is of fundamental importance to molecular ecology. Restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq), a popular reduced representation method, has ushered in a new era of genome-scale research for assessing population structure, hybridization, demographic history, phylogeography and migration. RADseq has also been widely used to conduct genome scans to detect loci involved in adaptive divergence among natural populations. Here, we examine the capacity of those RADseq-based genome scan studies to detect loci involved in local adaptation. To understand what proportion of the genome is missed by RADseq studies, we developed a simple model using different numbers of RAD-tags, genome sizes and extents of linkage disequilibrium (length of haplotype blocks). Under the best-case modelling scenario, we found that RADseq using six- or eight-base pair cutting restriction enzymes would fail to sample many regions of the genome, especially for species with short linkage disequilibrium. We then surveyed recent studies that have used RADseq for genome scans and found that the median density of markers across these studies was 4.08 RAD-tag markers per megabase (one marker per 245 kb). The length of linkage disequilibrium for many species is one to three orders of magnitude less than density of the typical recent RADseq study. Thus, we conclude that genome scans based on RADseq data alone, while useful for studies of neutral genetic variation and genetic population structure, will likely miss many loci under selection in studies of local adaptation.

Understanding how and why populations evolve is of fundamental importance to molecular ecology. Restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq), a popular reduced representation method, has ushered in a new era of genome-scale research for assessing population structure, hybridization, demographic history, phylogeography and migration. RADseq has also been widely used to conduct genome scans to detect loci involved in adaptive divergence among natural Correspondence: David B. Lowry, Fax: 517-353-1926; dlowry@msu.edu. Correction noteThe original advance online paper contained two errors associated with the calculation of the median density of RAD-seq tags in the survey of recent RAD-seq genome scan studies (Table S1). The first error was in the size of the assembled stickleback genome, which was reported as 0.53 Gbp, but should have been 0.46 Gbp. The second error was an accidental inversion of terms. These two mistakes contributed to an erroneous statement in the original abstract that the median density of RAD-tags across recent studies "was one marker per 3.96 megabases." The statement has been revised to read: "was 4.08 RAD-tag markers per megabase." Following these corrections, changes were made in the abstract and elsewhere in the paper to reflect a modified interpretation of the results, though we note the main arguments in the article are unaffected. Other minor modifications to the paper were made based upon suggestions by the editors of Molecular Ecology Resources. This version of the article, published as an "accepted article" on 12 November 2016 under DOI 10.1111/1755-0998.12635 replaces the original version of the article published on 12 September 2016 under DOI 10.1111/1755-0998.12596.The idea for the manuscript was conceived collectively by all authors during an NSF National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) working group. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.Supporting Information Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article: Appendix S1 Supplementary R scripts for Breaking RAD. Table S1 Recent (January 2015 to April 2016) genome scan studies, which used RAD-seq for genotyping. Andrews et al. (2016). Generally, RADseq methods produce DNA libraries for high-throughput sequencing using restriction enzymes that cut at specific motifs throughout the genome. RADseq markers come in the form of RAD-tags, which are short-read sequences adjacent to restriction enzyme cut sites. Because many polymorphic markers are produced by RADseq, it has frequently been used successfully for population genetic analyses, including assessment of population structure, hybridization, demographic history, phylogeography and migration (Catchen et al. 2013;Cavender-Bares et al. 2015;Combosch & Vollmer 2015;Qi et al. 2015). Markers generated by RADseq have also been quite useful for constructing linkage maps and identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL;Pfender et al. 2011;Houston et al. 2012;Weber et al. 2013;Laporte et al. 2015...

Among terrestrial organisms, arthropods are especially susceptible to dehydration, given their small body size and high surface area to volume ratio. This challenge is particularly acute for polar arthropods that face near-constant desiccating conditions, as water is frozen and thus unavailable for much of the year. The molecular mechanisms that govern extreme dehydration tolerance in insects remain largely undefined. In this study, we used RNA sequencing to quantify transcriptional mechanisms of extreme dehydration tolerance in the Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica, the world's southernmost insect and only insect endemic to Antarctica. Larvae of B. antarctica are remarkably tolerant of dehydration, surviving losses up to 70% of their body water. Gene expression changes in response to dehydration indicated up-regulation of cellular recycling pathways including the ubiquitin-mediated proteasome and autophagy, with concurrent down-regulation of genes involved in general metabolism and ATP production. Metabolomics results revealed shifts in metabolite pools that correlated closely with changes in gene expression, indicating that coordinated changes in gene expression and metabolism are a critical component of the dehydration response. Finally, using comparative genomics, we compared our gene expression results with a transcriptomic dataset for the Arctic collembolan, Megaphorura arctica. Although B. antarctica and M. arctica are adapted to similar environments, our analysis indicated very little overlap in expression profiles between these two arthropods. Whereas several orthologous genes showed similar expression patterns, transcriptional changes were largely species specific, indicating these polar arthropods have developed distinct transcriptional mechanisms to cope with similar desiccating conditions. physiological ecology | environmental stress

The unique inheritance pattern of the X chromosome exposes it to natural selection in a way that is different from that of the autosomes, potentially resulting in accelerated evolution. We perform a comparative analysis of X chromosome polymorphism in 10 great ape species, including humans. In most species, we identify striking megabase-wide regions, where nucleotide diversity is less than 20% of the chromosomal average. Such regions are found exclusively on the X chromosome. The regions overlap partially among species, suggesting that the underlying targets are partly shared among species. The regions have higher proportions of singleton SNPs, higher levels of population differentiation, and a higher nonsynonymous-to-synonymous substitution ratio than the rest of the X chromosome. We show that the extent to which diversity is reduced is incompatible with direct selection or the action of background selection and soft selective sweeps alone, and therefore, we suggest that very strong selective sweeps have independently targeted these specific regions in several species. The only genomic feature that we can identify as strongly associated with loss of diversity is the location of testis-expressed ampliconic genes, which also have reduced diversity around them. We hypothesize that these genes may be responsible for selective sweeps in the form of meiotic drive caused by an intragenomic conflict in male meiosis. X-chromosome evolution | great apes | selective sweeps | ampliconic genes | meiotic drive

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a respiratory toxicant that creates extreme environments tolerated by few organisms. H2S is also produced endogenously by metazoans and plays a role in cell signaling. The mechanisms of H2S toxicity and its physiological functions serve as a basis to discuss the multifarious strategies that allow animals to survive in H2S-rich environments. Despite their toxicity, H2S-rich environments also provide ecological opportunities, and complex selective regimes of covarying abiotic and biotic factors drive trait evolution in organisms inhabiting H2S-rich environments. Furthermore, adaptation to H2S-rich environments can drive speciation, giving rise to biodiversity hot spots with high levels of endemism in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and freshwater sulfide springs. The diversity of H2S-rich environments and their inhabitants provides ideal systems for comparative studies of the effects of a clear-cut source of selection across vast geographic and phylogenetic scales, ultimately informing our understanding of how environmental stressors affect ecological and evolutionary processes.