Genetic and Developmental Divergence in the Neural Crest Program between Cichlid Fish Species.

ABSTRACT: Neural crest (NC) is a vertebrate-specific embryonic progenitor cell population at the basis of important vertebrate features such as the craniofacial skeleton and pigmentation patterns. Despite the wide-ranging variation of NC-derived traits across vertebrates, the contribution of NC to species diversification remains underexplored. Here, leveraging the adaptive diversity of African Great Lakes' cichlid species, we combined comparative transcriptomics and population genomics to investigate the evolution of the NC genetic program in the context of their morphological divergence. Our analysis revealed substantial differences in transcriptional landscapes across somitogenesis, an embryonic period coinciding with NC development and migration. This included dozens of genes with described funct

SUBMITTER: Marconi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11558072 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature