Scientists found that 33 genes within the lizard genome were repeatedly associated with urbanization.
New Delhi, UPDATED: 11 January 2023 13:45 IST
It is important to understand how organisms adapt to changing landscapes. (Photo: Getty)
From India Today Web Desk: Researchers have found that lizards genetically modified to survive life in cities while migrating out of forests. Parallel physical differences and genomic signatures were found in the urban lizards compared to their forest-dwelling counterparts.
The study shows that lizards living in different cities have a parallel genomic marker compared to neighboring woodland lizards, and researchers say that as urbanization increases around the world, it’s important to understand how organisms and people adapt cities can be designed to support all types.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), analyzed 96 Anolis cristatellus lizards and compared the genetic makeup of forest dwellers to those living in Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, as well as the northern city of Arecibo and the western city Mayaguez.
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Anolis cristatellus lizards—a small species also known as Puerto Rican crested anoles—are commonly found in both urban and forested areas of Puerto Rico.
Urban lizards had significantly longer limbs and larger toe pads with more specialized scales on their toes. (Photo: Getty)
“Urbanization affects about two-thirds of the world and is expected to continue to increase. In many ways, cities provide us with natural laboratories for studying adaptive change, as we can compare urban populations to their non-urban counterparts to see how they respond to similar stressors and pressures over short periods of time,” Kristin Winchell, Assistant Professor of Biology at NYU and first author of the study, said in a statement.
Scientists found that 33 genes within the lizard genome were repeatedly associated with urbanization, and the lizards’ physical differences appeared to be reflected at the genomic level. The changes in these lizards, whose lifespan is approximately 7 years, can occur very rapidly within 30 to 80 generations, allowing them to escape predators and survive in urban areas.
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The team first confirmed that the lizard populations in the three regions were genetically distinct, and then measured their toe pads and legs and found that urban lizards had significantly longer limbs and larger toe pads with more specialized scales on their toes.
“Although we need further analysis of these genes to really know what this finding means, we do have evidence that urban lizards are more likely to be injured and have more parasites, so changes in immune function and wound healing would be useful.” Similarly, urban anoles eat human food, so it’s possible they’re experiencing changes in their metabolism,” Winchell said.
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Edited by:
Sibu Kumar Tripathi
Published on:
January 11, 2023