The genome of the live-bearing fish Heterandria formosa implicates a role of conserved vertebrate genes in the evolution of placental fish.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The evolution of complex organs is thought to occur via a stepwise process, each subsequent step increasing the organ's complexity by a tiny amount. This evolutionary process can be studied by comparing closely related species that vary in the presence or absence of their organs. This is the case for the placenta in the live-bearing fish family Poeciliidae, as members of this family vary markedly in their ability to supply nutrients to their offspring via a placenta. Here, we investigate the genomic basis underlying this phenotypic variation in Heterandria formosa, a poeciliid fish with a highly complex placenta. We compare this genome to three published reference genomes of non-placental poeciliid fish to gain insight in which genes may have played a role in the evoluti

SUBMITTER: van Kruistum H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6660938 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature