Behavioural changes controlled by catecholaminergic systems explain recurrent loss of pigmentation in cavefish.

ABSTRACT: Multiple cave populations of the teleost Astyanax mexicanus have repeatedly reduced or lost eye and body pigmentation during adaptation to dark caves. Albinism, the complete absence of melanin pigmentation, is controlled by loss-of-function mutations in the oca2 gene. The mutation is accompanied by an increase in the melanin synthesis precursor l-tyrosine, which is also a precursor for catecholamine synthesis. In this study, we show a relationship between pigmentation loss, enhanced catecholamine synthesis and responsiveness to anaesthesia, determined as a proxy for catecholamine-related behaviours. We demonstrate that anaesthesia resistance (AR) is enhanced in multiple depigmented and albino cavefish (CF), inversely proportional to the degree of pigmentation loss, controlled

SUBMITTER: Bilandzija H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5966602 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature