The spatiotemporal and genetic architecture of extraoral taste buds in Astyanax cavefish.

ABSTRACT: Intense environmental pressures can yield both regressive and constructive traits through complex evolutionary mechanisms. Although regression is well-studied, the biological bases of constructive features are less well understood. Cave-dwelling Astyanax fish harbor prolific extraoral taste buds on their heads, which are absent in conspecific surface-dwellers. Here, we present novel ontogenetic data demonstrating extraoral taste buds appear gradually and late in life history. This appearance is similar but non-identical in different cavefish populations, where patterning has evolved to permit taste bud re-specification across the endoderm-ectoderm germ layer boundary. Quantitative genetic analyses revealed that spatially distinct taste buds on the head are primarily mediated by two differe

SUBMITTER: Berning D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11303775 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature