Dual control by a single gene of secondary sexual characters and mating preferences in medaka.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Animals utilize a wide variety of tactics to attract reproductive partners. Behavioral experiments often indicate an important role for visual cues in fish, but their molecular basis remains almost entirely unknown. Studies on model species (such as zebrafish and medaka) allow investigations into this fundamental question in behavioral and evolutionary biology.

Results

Through mate-choice experiences using several laboratory strains of various body colors, we successfully identified one medaka mutant (color interfere; ci) that is distinctly unattractive to reproductive partners. This unattractiveness seems to be due to reduced orange pigment cells (xanthophores) in the skin. The ci strain carries a mutation on the somatolactin alpha (SLa) gene, therefore we expect

SUBMITTER: Fukamachi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2761876 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature