Evolution of regulatory networks associated with traits under selection in cichlids.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Seminal studies of vertebrate protein evolution speculated that gene regulatory changes can drive anatomical innovations. However, very little is known about gene regulatory network (GRN) evolution associated with phenotypic effect across ecologically diverse species. Here we use a novel approach for comparative GRN analysis in vertebrate species to study GRN evolution in representative species of the most striking examples of adaptive radiations, the East African cichlids. We previously demonstrated how the explosive phenotypic diversification of East African cichlids can be attributed to diverse molecular mechanisms, including accelerated regulatory sequence evolution and gene expression divergence.

Results

To investigate these mechanisms across species at a gen

SUBMITTER: Mehta TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7791837 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature