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Johnson MTJ, Arif I, Marchetti F, Munshi-South J, Ness RW, Szulkin M, Verrelli BC, Yauk CL, Anstett DN, Booth W, Caizergues AE, Carlen EJ, Dant A, González J, Lagos CG, Oman M, Phifer-Rixey M, Rennison DJ, Rosenberg MS, Winchell KM. Effects of urban-induced mutations on ecology, evolution and health. Nat Ecol Evol 2024:10.1038/s41559-024-02401-z. [PMID: 38641700 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02401-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that urbanization is associated with higher mutation rates, which can affect the health and evolution of organisms that inhabit cities. Elevated pollution levels in urban areas can induce DNA damage, leading to de novo mutations. Studies on mutations induced by urban pollution are most prevalent in humans and microorganisms, whereas studies of non-human eukaryotes are rare, even though increased mutation rates have the potential to affect organisms and their populations in contemporary time. Our Perspective explores how higher mutation rates in urban environments could impact the fitness, ecology and evolution of populations. Most mutations will be neutral or deleterious, and higher mutation rates associated with elevated pollution in urban populations can increase the risk of cancer in humans and potentially other species. We highlight the potential for urban-driven increased deleterious mutational loads in some organisms, which could lead to a decline in population growth of a wide diversity of organisms. Although beneficial mutations are expected to be rare, we argue that higher mutation rates in urban areas could influence adaptive evolution, especially in organisms with short generation times. Finally, we explore avenues for future research to better understand the effects of urban-induced mutations on the fitness, ecology and evolution of city-dwelling organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc T J Johnson
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Irtaqa Arif
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Francesco Marchetti
- Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jason Munshi-South
- Department of Biology and Louis Calder Center, Fordham University, Armonk, NY, USA
| | - Rob W Ness
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marta Szulkin
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Brian C Verrelli
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Carole L Yauk
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniel N Anstett
- Department of Plant Biology, Department of Entomology, Plant Resilience Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Warren Booth
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Aude E Caizergues
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Elizabeth J Carlen
- Living Earth Collaborative, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Anthony Dant
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Josefa González
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC, UPF, Barcelona, Spain
| | - César González Lagos
- Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile
| | - Madeleine Oman
- Centre for Urban Environments, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Diana J Rennison
- School of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Michael S Rosenberg
- Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
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