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Swaminathan A, Xia F, Rohner N. From darkness to discovery: evolutionary, adaptive, and translational genetic insights from cavefish. Trends Genet 2024; 40:24-38. [PMID: 38707509 PMCID: PMC11068324 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2023.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
How genotype determines phenotype is a well-explored question, but genotype-environment interactions and their heritable impact on phenotype over the course of evolution are not as thoroughly investigated. The fish Astyanax mexicanus, consisting of surface and cave ecotypes, is an ideal emerging model to study the genetic basis of adaptation to new environments. This model has permitted quantitative trait locus mapping and whole-genome comparisons to identify the genetic bases of traits such as albinism and insulin resistance and has helped to better understand fundamental evolutionary mechanisms. In this review, we summarize recent advances in A. mexicanus genetics and discuss their broader impact on the fields of adaptation and evolutionary genetics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fanning Xia
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Nicolas Rohner
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, USA
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
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Powers AK, Hyacinthe C, Riddle MR, Kim YK, Amaismeier A, Thiel K, Martineau B, Ferrante E, Moran RL, McGaugh SE, Boggs TE, Gross JB, Tabin CJ. Genetic mapping of craniofacial traits in the Mexican tetra reveals loci associated with bite differences between cave and surface fish. BMC Ecol Evol 2023; 23:41. [PMID: 37626324 PMCID: PMC10463419 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-023-02149-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The 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. RESULTS To 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. CONCLUSIONS This work highlights cavefish as a valuable genetic model for orofacial patterning and will provide insight into the genetic regulators of jaw and tooth development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda K Powers
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Carole Hyacinthe
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Misty R Riddle
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Young Kwang Kim
- Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Alleigh Amaismeier
- Department of Biology, Xavier University, 3800 Victory Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH, 45207, USA
| | - Kathryn Thiel
- Department of Biology, Xavier University, 3800 Victory Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH, 45207, USA
| | - Brian Martineau
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Emma Ferrante
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rachel L Moran
- Department of Biology, Texas A & M University, 100 Butler Hall, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Suzanne E McGaugh
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1500 Gortner Ave., Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Tyler E Boggs
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 312 College Dr., Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA
| | - Joshua B Gross
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 312 College Dr., Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA
| | - Clifford J Tabin
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Fan X, Pan H, Tian A, Chung WK, Shen Y. SHINE: protein language model-based pathogenicity prediction for short inframe insertion and deletion variants. Brief Bioinform 2023; 24:bbac584. [PMID: 36575831 PMCID: PMC9851320 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Accurate variant pathogenicity predictions are important in genetic studies of human diseases. Inframe insertion and deletion variants (indels) alter protein sequence and length, but not as deleterious as frameshift indels. Inframe indel Interpretation is challenging due to limitations in the available number of known pathogenic variants for training. Existing prediction methods largely use manually encoded features including conservation, protein structure and function, and allele frequency to infer variant pathogenicity. Recent advances in deep learning modeling of protein sequences and structures provide an opportunity to improve the representation of salient features based on large numbers of protein sequences. We developed a new pathogenicity predictor for SHort Inframe iNsertion and dEletion (SHINE). SHINE uses pretrained protein language models to construct a latent representation of an indel and its protein context from protein sequences and multiple protein sequence alignments, and feeds the latent representation into supervised machine learning models for pathogenicity prediction. We curated training data from ClinVar and gnomAD, and created two test datasets from different sources. SHINE achieved better prediction performance than existing methods for both deletion and insertion variants in these two test datasets. Our work suggests that unsupervised protein language models can provide valuable information about proteins, and new methods based on these models can improve variant interpretation in genetic analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao Fan
- Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Hongbing Pan
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alan Tian
- Lynbrook High School, San Jose, CA, USA
| | - Wendy K Chung
- Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yufeng Shen
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- JP Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
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Mennigen JA, Magnan J, Touma K, Best C, Culbert BM, Bernier NJ, Gilmour KM. Social status-dependent regulation and function of the somatotropic axis in juvenile rainbow trout. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2022; 554:111709. [PMID: 35787462 DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2022.111709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Revised: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) develop social hierarchies when competing for resources in a constrained environment. Among the physiological consequences of social status are changes in organismal energy metabolism, which generally favour anabolic pathways in dominant fish and catabolic pathways in subordinate fish. The somatotropic axis is an important regulator of metabolism and growth that could be involved in mediating metabolic changes in response to social status in juvenile rainbow trout. Here we used juvenile trout housed either in dyads or individually (sham controls) to determine whether social status changes indices of somatotropic axis function. Although pituitary growth hormone expression (gh1 and gh2) did not differ among groups, circulating growth hormone (GH) increased ∼12-fold in subordinate fish compared to sham and dominant fish. Social status caused consistent differential expression of GH receptor paralogues in liver and muscle, two principal target tissues of GH. Compared to dominant and/or sham fish, ghra paralogue expression (ghra1 and ghra2) was lower, while ghrb1 expression was higher in subordinate fish. Across tissues, ghra paralogue expression was generally positively correlated with expression of insulin growth factors (igf1, igf2), while ghrb1 expression was positively correlated with transcript abundance of hormone sensitive lipase (hsl1). Because igf and hsl expression are subject to context-dependent GH control in rainbow trout, these results suggest that increased circulating GH in conjunction with differential expression of ghr paralogues may translate into prioritization of downstream catabolic lipolytic pathways in subordinate rainbow trout. These findings support a social context-dependent role for GH signalling in mediating metabolic changes in juvenile rainbow trout.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan A Mennigen
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Julianne Magnan
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kenan Touma
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Carol Best
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Brett M Culbert
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nicholas J Bernier
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Policarpo M, Fumey J, Lafargeas P, Naquin D, Thermes C, Naville M, Dechaud C, Volff JN, Cabau C, Klopp C, Møller PR, Bernatchez L, García-Machado E, Rétaux S, Casane D. Contrasting Gene Decay in Subterranean Vertebrates: Insights from Cavefishes and Fossorial Mammals. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:589-605. [PMID: 32986833 PMCID: PMC7826195 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolution sometimes proceeds by loss, especially when structures and genes become dispensable after an environmental shift relaxes functional constraints. Subterranean vertebrates are outstanding models to analyze this process, and gene decay can serve as a readout. We sought to understand some general principles on the extent and tempo of the decay of genes involved in vision, circadian clock, and pigmentation in cavefishes. The analysis of the genomes of two Cuban species belonging to the genus Lucifuga provided evidence for the largest loss of eye-specific genes and nonvisual opsin genes reported so far in cavefishes. Comparisons with a recently evolved cave population of Astyanax mexicanus and three species belonging to the Chinese tetraploid genus Sinocyclocheilus revealed the combined effects of the level of eye regression, time, and genome ploidy on eye-specific gene pseudogenization. The limited extent of gene decay in all these cavefishes and the very small number of loss-of-function mutations per pseudogene suggest that their eye degeneration may not be very ancient, ranging from early to late Pleistocene. This is in sharp contrast with the identification of several vision genes carrying many loss-of-function mutations in ancient fossorial mammals, further suggesting that blind fishes cannot thrive more than a few million years in cave ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Policarpo
- CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Julien Fumey
- CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Philippe Lafargeas
- CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Delphine Naquin
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Claude Thermes
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Magali Naville
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Corentin Dechaud
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Nicolas Volff
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Cedric Cabau
- SIGENAE, GenPhySE, INRAE, ENVT, Université de Toulouse, Castanet Tolosan, France
| | - Christophe Klopp
- INRAE, SIGENAE, Genotoul Bioinfo, MIAT UR875, Castanet Tolosan, France
| | - Peter Rask Møller
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Louis Bernatchez
- Department of Biology, Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Erik García-Machado
- Department of Biology, Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada.,Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, Universidad de La Habana, La Habana, Cuba
| | - Sylvie Rétaux
- CNRS, Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Didier Casane
- CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.,UFR Sciences du Vivant, Université de Paris, Paris, France
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Mammola S, Lunghi E, Bilandžija H, Cardoso P, Grimm V, Schmidt SI, Hesselberg T, Martínez A. Collecting eco-evolutionary data in the dark: Impediments to subterranean research and how to overcome them. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:5911-5926. [PMID: 34141192 PMCID: PMC8207145 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Caves and other subterranean habitats fulfill the requirements of experimental model systems to address general questions in ecology and evolution. Yet, the harsh working conditions of these environments and the uniqueness of the subterranean organisms have challenged most attempts to pursuit standardized research.Two main obstacles have synergistically hampered previous attempts. First, there is a habitat impediment related to the objective difficulties of exploring subterranean habitats and our inability to access the network of fissures that represents the elective habitat for the so-called "cave species." Second, there is a biological impediment illustrated by the rarity of most subterranean species and their low physiological tolerance, often limiting sample size and complicating laboratory experiments.We explore the advantages and disadvantages of four general experimental setups (in situ, quasi in situ, ex situ, and in silico) in the light of habitat and biological impediments. We also discuss the potential of indirect approaches to research. Furthermore, using bibliometric data, we provide a quantitative overview of the model organisms that scientists have exploited in the study of subterranean life.Our over-arching goal is to promote caves as model systems where one can perform standardized scientific research. This is important not only to achieve an in-depth understanding of the functioning of subterranean ecosystems but also to fully exploit their long-discussed potential in addressing general scientific questions with implications beyond the boundaries of this discipline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Mammola
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe)Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS)University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Dark‐MEG: Molecular Ecology GroupWater Research Institute (IRSA)National Research Council (CNR)VerbaniaItaly
| | - Enrico Lunghi
- Key Laboratory of the Zoological Systematics and EvolutionInstitute of ZoologyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze“La Specola”FirenzeItaly
| | - Helena Bilandžija
- Department of Molecular BiologyRudjer Boskovic InstituteZagrebCroatia
| | - Pedro Cardoso
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe)Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS)University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Volker Grimm
- Department of Ecological ModellingHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZLeipzigGermany
- Plant Ecology and Nature ConservationUniversity of PotsdamPotsdamGermany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany
| | - Susanne I. Schmidt
- Institute of HydrobiologyBiology Centre CASČeské BudějoviceCzech Republic
| | | | - Alejandro Martínez
- Dark‐MEG: Molecular Ecology GroupWater Research Institute (IRSA)National Research Council (CNR)VerbaniaItaly
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Maldonado E, Rangel-Huerta E, Rodriguez-Salazar E, Pereida-Jaramillo E, Martínez-Torres A. Subterranean life: Behavior, metabolic, and some other adaptations of Astyanax cavefish. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART B-MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2020; 334:463-473. [PMID: 32346998 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.22948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The ability of fishes to adapt to any aquatic environment seems limitless. It is enthralling how new species keep appearing at the deep sea or in subterranean environments. There are close to 230 known species of cavefishes, still today the best-known cavefish is Astyanax mexicanus, a Characid that has become a model organism, and has been studied and scrutinized since 1936. There are two morphotypes for A. mexicanus, a surface fish and a cavefish. The surface fish lives in central and northeastern Mexico and south of the United States, while the cavefish is endemic to the "Sierra del Abra-Tanchipa region" in northeast Mexico. The extensive genetic and genomic analysis depicts a complex origin for Astyanax cavefish, with multiple cave invasions and persistent gene flow among cave populations. The surface founder population prevails in the same region where the caves are. In this review, we focus on both morphotype's main morphological and physiological differences, but mainly in recent discoveries about behavioral and metabolic adaptations for subterranean life. These traits may not be as obvious as the troglomorphic characteristics, but are key to understand how Astyanax cavefish thrives in this environment of perpetual darkness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ernesto Maldonado
- EvoDevo Research Group, Unidad de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, México
| | - Emma Rangel-Huerta
- EvoDevo Research Group, Unidad de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, México
| | - Elizabeth Rodriguez-Salazar
- EvoDevo Research Group, Unidad de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, México
| | - Elizabeth Pereida-Jaramillo
- Laboratorio de Neurobiología Molecular y Celular, Departamento de Neurobiología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Santiago de Querétaro, México
| | - Ataulfo Martínez-Torres
- Laboratorio de Neurobiología Molecular y Celular, Departamento de Neurobiología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Santiago de Querétaro, México
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Developmental Transcriptomic Analysis of the Cave-Dwelling Crustacean, Asellus aquaticus. Genes (Basel) 2019; 11:genes11010042. [PMID: 31905778 PMCID: PMC7016750 DOI: 10.3390/genes11010042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cave animals are a fascinating group of species often demonstrating characteristics including reduced eyes and pigmentation, metabolic efficiency, and enhanced sensory systems. Asellus aquaticus, an isopod crustacean, is an emerging model for cave biology. Cave and surface forms of this species differ in many characteristics, including eye size, pigmentation, and antennal length. Existing resources for this species include a linkage map, mapped regions responsible for eye and pigmentation traits, sequenced adult transcriptomes, and comparative embryological descriptions of the surface and cave forms. Our ultimate goal is to identify genes and mutations responsible for the differences between the cave and surface forms. To advance this goal, we decided to use a transcriptomic approach. Because many of these changes first appear during embryonic development, we sequenced embryonic transcriptomes of cave, surface, and hybrid individuals at the stage when eyes and pigment become evident in the surface form. We generated a cave, a surface, a hybrid, and an integrated transcriptome to identify differentially expressed genes in the cave and surface forms. Additionally, we identified genes with allele-specific expression in hybrid individuals. These embryonic transcriptomes are an important resource to assist in our ultimate goal of determining the genetic underpinnings of the divergence between the cave and surface forms.
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