Genetic mapping of craniofacial traits in the Mexican tetra reveals loci associated with bite differences between cave and surface fish

BMC Ecology and Evolution

Research

Joshua B. Gross¹  Tyler E. Boggs¹  Rachel L. Moran²  Misty R. Riddle³  Kathryn Thiel⁴  Alleigh Amaismeier⁴  Suzanne E. McGaugh⁵  Brian Martineau⁶  Amanda K. Powers⁶  Emma Ferrante⁶  Carole Hyacinthe⁶  Clifford J. Tabin⁶  Young Kwang Kim⁷ 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 312 College Dr., 45221, Cincinnati, OH, USA;Department of Biology, Texas A & M University, 100 Butler Hall, 77843, College Station, TX, USA;Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St., 89557, Reno, NV, USA;Department of Biology, Xavier University, 3800 Victory Pkwy., 45207, Cincinnati, OH, USA;Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1500 Gortner Ave., 55108, Saint Paul, MN, USA;Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, 02115, Boston, MA, USA;Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Ave., 02115, Boston, MA, USA;

关键词: Jaws;    Teeth;    Feeding behavior;    Quantitative trait loci;    Cavefish;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-023-02149-3

 received in 2023-01-04, accepted in 2023-08-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, includes interfertile surface-dwelling and cave-dwelling morphs, enabling powerful studies aimed at uncovering genes involved in the evolution of cave-associated traits. Compared to surface fish, cavefish harbor several extreme traits within their skull, such as a protruding lower jaw, a wider gape, and an increase in tooth number. These features are highly variable between individual cavefish and even across different cavefish populations.ResultsTo investigate these traits, we created a novel feeding behavior assay wherein bite impressions could be obtained. We determined that fish with an underbite leave larger bite impressions with an increase in the number of tooth marks. Capitalizing on the ability to produce hybrids from surface and cavefish crosses, we investigated genes underlying these segregating orofacial traits by performing Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) analysis with F2 hybrids. We discovered significant QTL for bite (underbite vs. overbite) that mapped to a single region of the Astyanax genome. Within this genomic region, multiple genes exhibit coding region mutations, some with known roles in bone development. Further, we determined that there is evidence that this genomic region is under natural selection.ConclusionsThis work highlights cavefish as a valuable genetic model for orofacial patterning and will provide insight into the genetic regulators of jaw and tooth development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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