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Ahi EP, Richter F, Sefc KM. Gene expression patterns associated with caudal fin shape in the cichlid Lamprologus tigripictilis. HYDROBIOLOGIA 2022; 850:2257-2273. [PMID: 37325486 PMCID: PMC10261199 DOI: 10.1007/s10750-022-05068-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Variation in fin shape is one of the most prominent features of morphological diversity among fish. Regulation of fin growth has mainly been studied in zebrafish, and it is not clear whether the molecular mechanisms underlying shape variation are equally diverse or rather conserved across species. In the present study, expression levels of 37 candidate genes were tested for association with fin shape in the cichlid fish Lamprologus tigripictilis. The tested genes included members of a fin shape-associated gene regulatory network identified in a previous study and novel candidates selected within this study. Using both intact and regenerating fin tissue, we tested for expression differences between the elongated and the short regions of the spade-shaped caudal fin and identified 20 genes and transcription factors (including angptl5, cd63, csrp1a, cx43, esco2, gbf1, and rbpj), whose expression patterns were consistent with a role in fin growth. Collated with available gene expression data of two other cichlid species, our study not only highlights several genes that were correlated with fin growth in all three species (e.g., angptl5, cd63, cx43, and mmp9), but also reveals species-specific gene expression and correlation patterns, which indicate considerable divergence in the regulatory mechanisms of fin growth across cichlids. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10750-022-05068-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Pashay Ahi
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
- Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Florian Richter
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Kristina M. Sefc
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
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Levin M. Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded Framework for Understanding Diverse Bodies and Minds. Front Syst Neurosci 2022; 16:768201. [PMID: 35401131 PMCID: PMC8988303 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.768201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Synthetic biology and bioengineering provide the opportunity to create novel embodied cognitive systems (otherwise known as minds) in a very wide variety of chimeric architectures combining evolved and designed material and software. These advances are disrupting familiar concepts in the philosophy of mind, and require new ways of thinking about and comparing truly diverse intelligences, whose composition and origin are not like any of the available natural model species. In this Perspective, I introduce TAME-Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere-a framework for understanding and manipulating cognition in unconventional substrates. TAME formalizes a non-binary (continuous), empirically-based approach to strongly embodied agency. TAME provides a natural way to think about animal sentience as an instance of collective intelligence of cell groups, arising from dynamics that manifest in similar ways in numerous other substrates. When applied to regenerating/developmental systems, TAME suggests a perspective on morphogenesis as an example of basal cognition. The deep symmetry between problem-solving in anatomical, physiological, transcriptional, and 3D (traditional behavioral) spaces drives specific hypotheses by which cognitive capacities can increase during evolution. An important medium exploited by evolution for joining active subunits into greater agents is developmental bioelectricity, implemented by pre-neural use of ion channels and gap junctions to scale up cell-level feedback loops into anatomical homeostasis. This architecture of multi-scale competency of biological systems has important implications for plasticity of bodies and minds, greatly potentiating evolvability. Considering classical and recent data from the perspectives of computational science, evolutionary biology, and basal cognition, reveals a rich research program with many implications for cognitive science, evolutionary biology, regenerative medicine, and artificial intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Levin
- Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
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Schartl M, Kneitz S, Ormanns J, Schmidt C, Anderson JL, Amores A, Catchen J, Wilson C, Geiger D, Du K, Garcia-Olazábal M, Sudaram S, Winkler C, Hedrich R, Warren WC, Walter R, Meyer A, Postlethwait JH. The Developmental and Genetic Architecture of the Sexually Selected Male Ornament of Swordtails. Curr Biol 2021; 31:911-922.e4. [PMID: 33275891 PMCID: PMC8580132 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Sexual selection results in sex-specific characters like the conspicuously pigmented extension of the ventral tip of the caudal fin-the "sword"-in males of several species of Xiphophorus fishes. To uncover the genetic architecture underlying sword formation and to identify genes that are associated with its development, we characterized the sword transcriptional profile and combined it with genetic mapping approaches. Results showed that the male ornament of swordtails develops from a sexually non-dimorphic prepattern of transcription factors in the caudal fin. Among genes that constitute the exclusive sword transcriptome and are located in the genomic region associated with this trait we identify the potassium channel, Kcnh8, as a sword development gene. In addition to its neural function kcnh8 performs a known role in fin growth. These findings indicate that during evolution of swordtails a brain gene has been co-opted for an additional novel function in establishing a male ornament.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manfred Schartl
- Developmental Biochemistry, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany; The Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA.
| | - Susanne Kneitz
- Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany
| | - Jenny Ormanns
- Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany
| | - Cornelia Schmidt
- Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany
| | - Jennifer L Anderson
- Systematic Biology, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Angel Amores
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401, USA
| | - Julian Catchen
- Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 6812, USA
| | - Catherine Wilson
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401, USA
| | - Dietmar Geiger
- Julius-von-Sachs-Institute for Biosciences, Molecular Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Biocenter, University Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 2, 97082 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Kang Du
- Developmental Biochemistry, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany; The Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
| | | | - Sudha Sudaram
- Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Bioimaging Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
| | - Christoph Winkler
- Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Bioimaging Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
| | - Rainer Hedrich
- Julius-von-Sachs-Institute for Biosciences, Molecular Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Biocenter, University Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 2, 97082 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Wesley C Warren
- 440G Bond Life Sciences Center, 1201 Rollins Street, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Ronald Walter
- The Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
| | - Axel Meyer
- Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
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Ahi EP, Richter F, Lecaudey LA, Sefc KM. Gene expression profiling suggests differences in molecular mechanisms of fin elongation between cichlid species. Sci Rep 2019; 9:9052. [PMID: 31227799 PMCID: PMC6588699 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45599-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Comparative analyses of gene regulation inform about the molecular basis of phenotypic trait evolution. Here, we address a fin shape phenotype that evolved multiple times independently across teleost fish, including several species within the family Cichlidae. In a previous study, we proposed a gene regulatory network (GRN) involved in the formation and regeneration of conspicuous filamentous elongations adorning the unpaired fins of the Neolamprologus brichardi. Here, we tested the members of this network in the blockhead cichlid, Steatocranus casuarius, which displays conspicuously elongated dorsal and moderately elongated anal fins. Our study provided evidence for differences in the anatomy of fin elongation and suggested gene regulatory divergence between the two cichlid species. Only a subset of the 20 genes tested in S. casuarius showed the qPCR expression patterns predicted from the GRN identified in N. brichardi, and several of the gene-by-gene expression correlations differed between the two cichlid species. In comparison to N. brichardi, gene expression patterns in S. casuarius were in better (but not full) agreement with gene regulatory interactions inferred in zebrafish. Within S. casuarius, the dorsoventral asymmetry in ornament expression was accompanied by differences in gene expression patterns, including potential regulatory differentiation, between the anal and dorsal fin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Pashay Ahi
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria. .,Department of Comparative Physiology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, SE-75 236, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Florian Richter
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria
| | | | - Kristina M Sefc
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria
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Ahi EP, Sefc KM. Towards a gene regulatory network shaping the fins of the Princess cichlid. Sci Rep 2018; 8:9602. [PMID: 29942008 PMCID: PMC6018552 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27977-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Variation in fin shape and size contributes to the outstanding morphological diversity of teleost fishes, but the regulation of fin growth has not yet been studied extensively outside the zebrafish model. A previous gene expression study addressing the ornamental elongations of unpaired fins in the African cichlid fish Neolamprologus brichardi identified three genes (cx43, mmp9 and sema3d) with strong and consistent expression differences between short and elongated fin regions. Remarkably, the expression patterns of these genes were not consistent with inferences on their regulatory interactions in zebrafish. Here, we identify a gene expression network (GRN) comprising cx43, mmp9, and possibly also sema3d by a stepwise approach of identifying co-expression modules and predicting their upstream regulators. Among the transcription factors (TFs) predicted as potential upstream regulators of 11 co-expressed genes, six TFs (foxc1, foxp1, foxd3, myc, egr2, irf8) showed expression patterns consistent with their cooperative transcriptional regulation of the gene network. Some of these TFs have already been implicated in teleost fish fin regeneration and formation. We particularly discuss the potential function of foxd3 as driver of the network and its role in the unexpected gene expression correlations observed in N. brichardi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Pashay Ahi
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria.
| | - Kristina M Sefc
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria
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Ahi EP, Richter F, Sefc KM. A gene expression study of ornamental fin shape in Neolamprologus brichardi, an African cichlid species. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17398. [PMID: 29234131 PMCID: PMC5727040 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17778-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The diversity of fin morphology within and across fish taxa offers great, but still largely unexplored, opportunities to investigate the proximate mechanisms underlying fin shape variation. Relying on available genetic knowledge brought forth mainly by the comprehensive study of the zebrafish caudal fin, we explored candidate molecular mechanisms for the maintenance and formation of the conspicuously elongated filaments adorning the unpaired fins of the East African "princess cichlid" Neolamprologus brichardi. Via qPCR assays, we detected expression differences of candidate genes between elongated and short regions of intact and regenerating fins. The identified genes include skeletogenic and growth factors (igf2b, fgf3, bmp2 and bmp4), components of the WNT pathway (lef1, wnt5b and wnt10) and a regulatory network determining fin ray segment size and junction (cx43, esco2 and sema3d), as well as other genes with different roles (mmp9, msxb and pea3). Interestingly, some of these genes showed fin specific expression differences which are often neglected in studies of model fish that focus on the caudal fin. Moreover, while the observed expression patterns were generally consistent with zebrafish results, we also detected deviating expression correlations and gene functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Pashay Ahi
- Institute of Zoology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010, Graz, Austria.
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Lee HJ, Schneider RF, Manousaki T, Kang JH, Lein E, Franchini P, Meyer A. Lateralized Feeding Behavior is Associated with Asymmetrical Neuroanatomy and Lateralized Gene Expressions in the Brain in Scale-Eating Cichlid Fish. Genome Biol Evol 2017; 9:3122-3136. [PMID: 29069363 PMCID: PMC5737854 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evx218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/23/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Lateralized behavior ("handedness") is unusual, but consistently found across diverse animal lineages, including humans. It is thought to reflect brain anatomical and/or functional asymmetries, but its neuro-molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Lake Tanganyika scale-eating cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis show pronounced asymmetry in their jaw morphology as well as handedness in feeding behavior-biting scales preferentially only from one or the other side of their victims. This makes them an ideal model in which to investigate potential laterality in neuroanatomy and transcription in the brain in relation to behavioral handedness. After determining behavioral handedness in P. microlepis (preferred attack side), we estimated the volume of the hemispheres of brain regions and captured their gene expression profiles. Our analyses revealed that the degree of behavioral handedness is mirrored at the level of neuroanatomical asymmetry, particularly in the tectum opticum. Transcriptome analyses showed that different brain regions (tectum opticum, telencephalon, hypothalamus, and cerebellum) display distinct expression patterns, potentially reflecting their developmental interrelationships. For numerous genes in each brain region, their extent of expression differences between hemispheres was found to be correlated with the degree of behavioral lateralization. Interestingly, the tectum opticum and telencephalon showed divergent biases on the direction of up- or down-regulation of the laterality candidate genes (e.g., grm2) in the hemispheres, highlighting the connection of handedness with gene expression profiles and the different roles of these brain regions. Hence, handedness in predation behavior may be caused by asymmetric size of brain hemispheres and also by lateralized gene expressions in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyuk Je Lee
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Present address: Molecular Ecology and Evolution Laboratory, Department of Biological Science, Sangji University, Wonju, Korea
| | - Ralf F Schneider
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Tereza Manousaki
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Present address: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology, and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Heraklion, Greece
| | - Ji Hyoun Kang
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Present address: Korean Entomological Institute, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Etienne Lein
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Present address: Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Paolo Franchini
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Axel Meyer
- Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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Zhang W, Guo Y, Li J, Huang L, Kazitsa EG, Wu H. Transcriptome analysis reveals the genetic basis underlying the seasonal development of keratinized nuptial spines in Leptobrachium boringii. BMC Genomics 2016; 17:978. [PMID: 27894252 PMCID: PMC5126826 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-016-3295-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The expression of sexually selected traits often varies with populations' breeding cycles in many animals. The elucidation of mechanisms underlying the expression of such traits is a research topic in evolutionary biology; however, the genetic basis of the seasonal development of their expression remains unknown. Male Leptobrachium boringii develop keratinized nuptial spines on their upper jaw during the breeding season that fall off when the breeding season ends. To illuminate the genetic basis for the expression of this trait and its seasonal development, we assessed the de novo transcriptome for L. boringii using brain, testis and upper jaw skin and compared gene expression profiles of these tissues between two critical periods of the spine growth cycle. RESULTS We identified 94,900 unigenes in our transcriptome. Among them, 2,131 genes were differentially expressed between the breeding period when the spines developed and the post-breeding period when the spines were sloughed. An increased number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the upper jaw skin compared with the testis and brain. In the upper jaw skin, DEGs were mainly enriched in cytosolic part, peptidase inhibitor activity and peptidase regulator activity based on GO enrichment analysis and in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes and retinol metabolism based on KEGG enrichment analysis. In the other two tissues, DEGs were primarily involved in the cell cycle, DNA replication and melatonin production. Specifically, insulin/insulin-like growth factor and sex steroid hormone-related DEGs were identified in the upper jaw skin, indicating . The expression variation of IGF2 and estrogen-related genes may be the main factors regulating the seasonal development of the spines. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides a list of potential genes involved in the regulation of seasonal development of nuptial spines in L. boringii. This is the first transcriptome survey of seasonally developed sexually selected traits for non-model amphibian species, and candidate genes provided here may provide valuable information for further studies of L. boringii.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zhang
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Yue Guo
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Jun Li
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Li Huang
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Eric Gilbert Kazitsa
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China
| | - Hua Wu
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, International Research Centre of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyulu, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079, China.
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