Molecular investigation of genetic assimilation during the rapid adaptive radiations of East African cichlid fishes

Adaptive radiations are characterized by adaptive diversification intertwined with rapid speciation within a lineage resulting in many ecologically specialized, phenotypically diverse species. It has been proposed that adaptive radiations can originate from ancestral lineages with pronounced phenotypic plasticity in adaptive traits, facilitating ecologically driven phenotypic diversification that is ultimately fixed through genetic assimilation of gene regulatory regions. This study aimed to investigate how phenotypic plasticity is reflected in gene expression patterns in the trophic apparatus of several lineages of East African cichlid fishes, and whether the observed patterns support genetic assimilation. This investigation used a split brood experimental design to compare adaptive plasticity in species from within and outside of adaptive radiations. The plastic response was induced in the crushing pharyngeal jaws through feeding individuals either a hard or soft diet. We find that nonradiating, basal lineages show higher levels of adaptive morphological plasticity than the derived, radiated lineages, suggesting that these differences have become partially genetically fixed during the formation of the adaptive radiations. Two candidate genes that may have undergone genetic assimilation, gif and alas1, were identified, in addition to alterations in the wiring of LPJ patterning networks. Taken together, our results suggest that genetic assimilation may have dampened the inducibility of plasticity related genes during the adaptive radiations of East African cichlids, flattening the reaction norms and canalizing their feeding phenotypes, driving adaptation to progressively more narrow ecological niches.

High genetic diversity and population differentiation in Clarias gariepinus of Yala Swamp: evidence from mitochondrial DNA sequences

In order to improve the conservation and sustainable utilization of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus of the Yala Swamp in Kenya, genetic diversity and population structure of Lakes Kanyaboli and Namboyo populations of the species were studied using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial D-loop control region. Genetic diversity inferred as haplotype and nucleotide diversities and number of singletons and shared haplotypes was higher in the Lake Kanyaboli population (LKG) than the Lake Namboyo population (LNG) of C. gariepinus. Thirty-one haplotypes were inferred, of which 25 (80·6%) were private or singletons, while only six (19·4%) haplotypes were shared between LKG and LNG. Both populations were differentiated, with F_ST value that was significantly different from zero (P < 0·05). Two clusters were inferred both from the maximum likelihood tree and the spanning networks of phylogenetic relationships of haplotypes. Mismatch distribution for total sample was multi-modal but individually, distributions were uni-modal in LKG, but multimodal in LNG. The mean ± s.d. raggedness index for both populations was 0·085 ± 0·098 and not significantly different from zero (P > 0·05). Individual raggedness indices were 0·015 and 0·154 for LKG and LNG respectively. Fu's F_s was negative for both populations, with LKG recording -14·871, while LNG had -2·565, significantly different from zero for LKG (P < 0·05), but the value for LNG was not significant (P > 0·05). Tajima's D was negative for both populations, with LKG recording -1·734, while LNG had -1·136. Standardized square differences (SSD) were 0·001 for LKG and 0·048 for LNG and non-significant between them (P > 0·05). Values between all populations were also not significantly different (P > 0·05), mean ± s.d. SSD 0·025 ± 0·033.