Trade-offs in cavefish sensory capacity

BMC Biology

Commentary

Axel Meyer¹  Helen Gunter² 

[1] Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany;Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany;Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany;

关键词: Causative Mutation;    Superficial Neuromast;    Cave Population;    Common Genetic Basis;    Free Neuromast;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1741-7007-11-5

 received in 2013-01-14, accepted in 2013-01-22,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

In caves one repeatedly finds strikingly convergent patterns of evolution in diverse sets of organisms involving 'regressive' traits such as the loss of eyes and pigmentation. Ongoing debate centers around whether these regressive traits arise as the result of neutral evolutionary processes, or rather by natural selection of 'constructive' traits that arise at the expense of eyes and pigmentation. Recent research on cavefish points to the latter, suggesting that the 'constructive' trait vibrational attractive behavior and the reduction of eye size may share a common genetic basis.See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/10/108

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Gunter and Meyer; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013