Population differentiation of the African cyprinid Barbus neumayeri across dissolved oxygen regimes

Counter-gradient variation in gene expression between fish populations facilitates colonization of low-dissolved oxygen environments

The role of phenotypic plasticity during colonization remains unclear due to the shifting importance of plasticity across timescales. In the early stages of colonization, plasticity can facilitate persistence in a novel environment; but over evolutionary time, processes such as genetic assimilation may reduce variation in plastic traits such that species with a longer evolutionary history in an environment can show lower levels of plasticity than recent invaders. Therefore, comparing species in the early stages of colonization to long-established species provides a powerful approach for uncovering the role of phenotypic plasticity during different stages of colonization. We compared gene expression between low-dissolved oxygen (DO) and high-DO populations of two cyprinid fish: Enteromius apleurogramma, a species that has undergone a recent range expansion, and E. neumayeri, a long-established native species in the same region. We sampled tissue either immediately after capture from the field or after a 2-week acclimation under high-DO conditions, allowing us to test for both evolved and plastic differences in low-DO vs high-DO populations of each species. We found that most genes showing candidate-evolved differences in gene expression did not overlap with those showing plastic differences in gene expression. However, in the genes that did overlap, there was counter-gradient variation such that plastic and evolved gene expression responses were in opposite directions in both species. Additionally, E. apleurogramma had higher levels of plasticity and evolved divergence in gene expression between field populations. We suggest that the higher level of plasticity and counter-gradient variation may have allowed rapid genetic adaptation in E. apleurogramma and facilitated colonization. This study shows how counter-gradient variation may impact the colonization of divergent oxygen environments.

Comprehensive analysis of population genetics of Phoxinus phoxinus ujmonensis in the Irtysh River: Abiotic and biotic factors

As a widely distributed species along the Irtysh River, Phoxinus phoxinus ujmonensis (Kaschtschenko, 1899) was used as a model to investigate genetic diversity and population structure as well as the influence of environmental factors on population genetics. In this study, we specifically developed 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci. The analysis of microsatellite and mtDNA markers revealed a high and a moderate genetic diversity across seven populations, respectively. Moderate differentiation was also detected among several populations, indicating the impact of habitat fragmentation and divergence. The absence of isolation by distance implied an extensive gene flow, while the presence of isolation by adaptation implied that these populations might be in the process of adapting to divergent habitats. Correlation analysis showed that abiotic factors like dissolved oxygen, pH, total dissolved solids, and conductivity in water as well as biotic factors like plankton diversity and fish species diversity had impact on genetic diversity and divergence in P. phoxinus ujmonensis populations. The results of this study will provide an insight into the effect of environmental factors on genetic diversity and contribute to the study of population genetics of sympatric species.

Variation in sperm morphometry of the African cyprinid Barbus neumayeri (Neumayer’s barb)

In this study, we explored variation in sperm morphometry of the African cyprinid Barbus neumayeri Fischer, 1884 (Neumayer’s barb) across seven sites with a wide range in dissolved oxygen, from hypoxic swamps to intermittent normoxic streams to well-oxygenated rivers. We explore whether fish physiological condition (K) or hypoxia can affect the reproductive traits, and whether condition–hypoxia dependence of sperm traits including head length (LH), head width (WH), flagellum length (LF), and hydrodynamic ratio (HR) vary across sampling sites. Significant differences were found in fish total length (P = 0.0212), as well as in K, left and right testis masses, total gonad mass, and gonadosomatic index (P < 0.0001 for all traits). Total gonad mass was lower in hypoxic sites than in well-oxygenated sites. Interestingly, the left and right testes from normoxic environments were double the size of testes from hypoxic environments. Despite little variation in sperm flagellum length, sperm heads were longer in swamps than in streams or rivers, giving the sperm head a more hydrodynamic shape. This variation in HR may be beneficial in the more stagnant waters of the swamp compared with the other environments. Future studies are necessary to understand whether variation in sperm morphology correlates with sperm swimming performance and male reproductive capacity.