Expression and sequence evolution of aromatase cyp19a1 and other sexual development genes in East African cichlid fishes.

ABSTRACT: Sex determination mechanisms are highly variable across teleost fishes and sexual development is often plastic. Nevertheless, downstream factors establishing the two sexes are presumably conserved. Here, we study sequence evolution and gene expression of core genes of sexual development in a prime model system in evolutionary biology, the East African cichlid fishes. Using the available five cichlid genomes, we test for signs of positive selection in 28 genes including duplicates from the teleost whole-genome duplication, and examine the expression of these candidate genes in three cichlid species. We then focus on a particularly striking case, the A- and B-copies of the aromatase cyp19a1, and detect different evolutionary trajectories: cyp19a1A evolved under strong positive selection, whe

SUBMITTER: Bohne A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3773371 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature