Genetic basis of differential opsin gene expression in cichlid fishes

Visual sensitivity can be tuned by differential expression of opsin genes. Among African cichlid fishes, seven cone opsin genes are expressed in different combinations to produce diverse visual sensitivities. To determine the genetic architecture controlling these adaptive differences, we analysed g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of evolutionary biology Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 840 - 853
Main Authors:	CARLETON, K.L, HOFMANN, C.M, KLISZ, C, PATEL, Z, CHIRCUS, L.M, SIMENAUER, L.H, SOODOO, N, ALBERTSON, R.C, SER, J.R
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-04-2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:	Animals Cichlids - genetics cis regulation Fish Gene expression Gene Expression Regulation - physiology opsin Opsins - genetics Opsins - metabolism trans-acting factor Visual Perception - genetics Visual Perception - physiology
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Visual sensitivity can be tuned by differential expression of opsin genes. Among African cichlid fishes, seven cone opsin genes are expressed in different combinations to produce diverse visual sensitivities. To determine the genetic architecture controlling these adaptive differences, we analysed genetic crosses between species expressing different complements of opsin genes. Quantitative genetic analyses suggest that expression is controlled by only a few loci with correlations among some genes. Genetic mapping identifies clear evidence of trans-acting factors in two chromosomal regions that contribute to differences in opsin expression as well as one cis-regulatory region. Therefore, both cis and trans regulation are important. The simple genetic architecture suggested by these results may explain why opsin gene expression is evolutionarily labile, and why similar patterns of expression have evolved repeatedly in different lineages.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01954.x ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY
ISSN:	1010-061X 1420-9101
DOI:	10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01954.x