Ciliary Rootlet Coiled-Coil 2 (crocc2) Is Associated with Evolutionary Divergence and Plasticity of Cichlid Jaw Shape.

ABSTRACT: Cichlid fishes exhibit rapid, extensive, and replicative adaptive radiation in feeding morphology. Plasticity of the cichlid jaw has also been well documented, and this combination of iterative evolution and developmental plasticity has led to the proposition that the cichlid feeding apparatus represents a morphological "flexible stem." Under this scenario, the fixation of environmentally sensitive genetic variation drives evolutionary divergence along a phenotypic axis established by the initial plastic response. Thus, if plasticity is predictable then so too should be the evolutionary response. We set out to explore these ideas at the molecular level by identifying genes that underlie both the evolution and plasticity of the cichlid jaw. As a first step, we fine-mapped an environment-spe

SUBMITTER: Gilbert MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8321518 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature