Widespread anticoagulant poison exposure is linked with immune dysregulation and severe notoedric mange in urban bobcats

peer reviewe

Impacts of Anthropogenic Activities on Wild Species: An Evaluation of Environmental Stressors Associated with Urban and Agricultural Land Use on Bobcats, Mule Deer and Bats in Southern California

Human land use is responsible for global declines in biodiversity, primarily through the loss, fragmentation and degradation of natural habitat. Urban development and agriculture are the two most important forms of land use change causing species imperilment in the US, both of which are strongly associated with additional environmental stressors such as pesticides and movement barriers. Socially, economically and ecologically important species are often affected negatively, and thus, priority should be placed on evaluating how land use affects natural populations. This research focuses on three distinct systems to identify the effects of habitat fragmentation and chemical pollutants on wildlife, including 1) the physiological effects of persistent anticoagulant rodenticide exposure on bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills near Los Angeles, CA; 2) the effect of highways on geneflow in mule deer occupying various open spaces separated by intervening highways and characterized by varying degrees of urban development; and 3) the influence of pesticide use on resource selection and dietary diversity in big brown bats in an intensively managed agricultural landcape

Raw read counts, GC content, and Mean Gene Length

This file contains the raw HT-seq read counts generated from raw fastq sequence reads after alignment to the domestic cat genome. The first two columns include the mean GC content and mean gene length for all genes, which were used for filtering and normalization

Data from: Genome-wide expression reveals multiple systemic effects associated with detection of anticoagulant poisons in bobcats (Lynx rufus)

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are indiscriminate toxicants that threaten non-target predatory and scavenger species through secondary poisoning. Accumulating evidence suggests that AR exposure may have disruptive sublethal consequences on individuals that can affect fitness. We evaluated AR-related effects on genome wide expression patterns in a population of bobcats in southern California. We identify differential expression of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, endoplasmic reticulum stress response, epithelial integrity, and both adaptive and innate immune function. Further, we find that differential expression of immune related genes may be attributable to AR-related effects on leukocyte differentiation. Collectively, our results provide an unprecedented understanding of the sublethal effects of AR exposure on a wild carnivore. These findings highlight potential detrimental effects of ARs on a wide variety of species worldwide that may consume poisoned rodents and indicate the need to investigate gene expression effects of other toxicants added to natural environments by humans

Genome-wide expression reveals multiple systemic effects associated with detection of anticoagulant poisons in bobcats (Lynx rufus).

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are indiscriminate toxicants that threaten nontarget predatory and scavenger species through secondary poisoning. Accumulating evidence suggests that AR exposure may have disruptive sublethal consequences on individuals that can affect fitness. We evaluated AR-related effects on genome-wide expression patterns in a population of bobcats in southern California. We identify differential expression of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, endoplasmic reticulum stress response, epithelial integrity and both adaptive and innate immune function. Further, we find that differential expression of immune-related genes may be attributable to AR-related effects on leucocyte differentiation. Collectively, our results provide an unprecedented understanding of the sublethal effects of AR exposure on a wild carnivore. These findings highlight potential detrimental effects of ARs on a wide variety of species worldwide that may consume poisoned rodents and indicate the need to investigate gene expression effects of other toxicants added to natural environments by humans

Data from: Genome-wide expression reveals multiple systemic effects associated with detection of anticoagulant poisons in bobcats (Lynx rufus)

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are indiscriminate toxicants that threaten non-target predatory and scavenger species through secondary poisoning. Accumulating evidence suggests that AR exposure may have disruptive sublethal consequences on individuals that can affect fitness. We evaluated AR-related effects on genome wide expression patterns in a population of bobcats in southern California. We identify differential expression of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, endoplasmic reticulum stress response, epithelial integrity, and both adaptive and innate immune function. Further, we find that differential expression of immune related genes may be attributable to AR-related effects on leukocyte differentiation. Collectively, our results provide an unprecedented understanding of the sublethal effects of AR exposure on a wild carnivore. These findings highlight potential detrimental effects of ARs on a wide variety of species worldwide that may consume poisoned rodents and indicate the need to investigate gene expression effects of other toxicants added to natural environments by humans

SupplementaryTable_S3

File contains Gene Symbol, linear model coefficients and q-values, and WGCNA module assignment

Widespread Anticoagulant Poison Exposure is Linked with Immune Dysregulation and Severe Notoedric Mange in Urban Bobcats

Human activities threaten wildlife with a variety of novel stressors such as exposure to toxicants. Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are toxicants applied worldwide and through bioaccumulation, threaten species that prey on poisoned rodents or their predators. We studied a population of urban bobcats in southern California that declined rapidly from 2002-2005 due to notoedric mange. We first assessed prevalence of AR exposure using blood and liver samples across the population and found widespread exposure (>90%). Death associated with mange was strongly correlated with cumulative first- and second-generation AR exposure. These findings suggested that exposure to both first- and second-generation ARs were an underlying cause of the disease. We next aimed to understand the sublethal immunological and physiological effects of AR exposure in this natural population. We used two approaches: 1) we used a comprehensive suite of health assays (complete blood counts, blood chemistry assessment, and immunological profiling), and 2) we quantified AR-induced differential gene expression in blood for a subset of individuals. We found that sublethal AR exposure, primarily measured as exposure to diphacinone, is associated with hallmark indicators of generalized systemic inflammation that in persistence could promote immune dysfunction. Further, differential gene expression findings supported the results of immunological profiling. Further, a decrease in the expression of genes associated with epithelial maintenance simultaneous to a decrease in gene expression linked with ectoparasitic immune response may explain the link between AR exposure and mange vulnerability. Such indirect effects of sublethal exposure exemplify the challenge of protecting wild populations from common toxicants in human-dominated environments

SupplementaryTable_S1

File includes summaries of data processing (sequence counts data), and metadata (technical and biological traits) for each bobcat

A genome assembly of the Yuma myotis bat, Myotis yumanensis

The Yuma myotis bat (Myotis yumanensis) is a small vespertilionid bat and one of 52 species of new world Myotis bats in the subgenus Pizonyx. While M. yumanensis populations currently appear relatively stable, it is one of twelve bat species known or suspected to be susceptible to white-nose syndrome, the fungal disease causing declines in bat populations across North America. Only two of these twelve species have genome resources available, which limits the ability of resource managers to use genomic techniques to track the responses of bat populations to white-nose syndrome generally. Here we present the first de novo genome assembly for Yuma myotis, generated as a part of the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP). The M. yumanensis genome was generated using a combination of PacBio HiFi long reads and Omni-C chromatin-proximity sequencing technology. This high-quality genome is one of the most complete bat assemblies available, with a contig N50 of 28.03 Mb, scaffold N50 of 99.14 Mb and BUSCO completeness score of 93.7%. The Yuma myotis genome provides a high quality resource that will aid in comparative genomic and evolutionary studies, as well as inform conservation management related to white-nose syndrome