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Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences

BACKGROUND: Central American crater lake cichlid fish of the Midas species complex (Amphilophus spp.) are a model system for sympatric speciation and fast ecological diversification and specialization. Midas cichlids have been intensively analyzed from an ecological and morphological perspective. Ge...

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Autores principales: Kratochwil, Claudius F, Sefton, Maggie M, Meyer, Axel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352272/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25887993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12861-015-0061-1
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author Kratochwil, Claudius F
Sefton, Maggie M
Meyer, Axel
author_facet Kratochwil, Claudius F
Sefton, Maggie M
Meyer, Axel
author_sort Kratochwil, Claudius F
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Central American crater lake cichlid fish of the Midas species complex (Amphilophus spp.) are a model system for sympatric speciation and fast ecological diversification and specialization. Midas cichlids have been intensively analyzed from an ecological and morphological perspective. Genomic resources such as transcriptomic and genomic data sets, and a high-quality draft genome are available now. Many ecologically relevant species-specific traits and differences such as pigmentation and cranial morphology arise during development. Detailed descriptions of the early development of the Midas cichlid in particular, will help to investigate the ontogeny of species differences and adaptations. RESULTS: We describe the embryonic and larval development of the crater lake cichlid, Amphilophus xiloaensis, until seven days after fertilization. Similar to previous studies on teleost development, we describe six periods of embryogenesis - the zygote, cleavage, blastula, gastrula, segmentation, and post-hatching period. Furthermore, we define homologous stages to well-described teleost models such as medaka and zebrafish, as well as other cichlid species such as the Nile tilapia and the South American cichlid Cichlasoma dimerus. Key morphological differences between the embryos of Midas cichlids and other teleosts are highlighted and discussed, including the presence of adhesive glands and different early chromatophore patterns, as well as variation in developmental timing. CONCLUSIONS: The developmental staging of the Midas cichlid will aid researchers in the comparative investigation of teleost ontogenies. It will facilitate comparative developmental biological studies of Neotropical and African cichlid fish in particular. In the past, the species flocks of the African Great Lakes have received the most attention from researchers, but some lineages of the 300–400 species of Central American lakes are fascinating model systems for adaptive radiation and rapid phenotypic evolution. The availability of genetic resources, their status as a model system for evolutionary research, and the possibility to perform functional experiments including transgenesis makes the Midas cichlid complex a very attractive model for evolutionary-developmental research.
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spelling pubmed-43522722015-03-08 Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences Kratochwil, Claudius F Sefton, Maggie M Meyer, Axel BMC Dev Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: Central American crater lake cichlid fish of the Midas species complex (Amphilophus spp.) are a model system for sympatric speciation and fast ecological diversification and specialization. Midas cichlids have been intensively analyzed from an ecological and morphological perspective. Genomic resources such as transcriptomic and genomic data sets, and a high-quality draft genome are available now. Many ecologically relevant species-specific traits and differences such as pigmentation and cranial morphology arise during development. Detailed descriptions of the early development of the Midas cichlid in particular, will help to investigate the ontogeny of species differences and adaptations. RESULTS: We describe the embryonic and larval development of the crater lake cichlid, Amphilophus xiloaensis, until seven days after fertilization. Similar to previous studies on teleost development, we describe six periods of embryogenesis - the zygote, cleavage, blastula, gastrula, segmentation, and post-hatching period. Furthermore, we define homologous stages to well-described teleost models such as medaka and zebrafish, as well as other cichlid species such as the Nile tilapia and the South American cichlid Cichlasoma dimerus. Key morphological differences between the embryos of Midas cichlids and other teleosts are highlighted and discussed, including the presence of adhesive glands and different early chromatophore patterns, as well as variation in developmental timing. CONCLUSIONS: The developmental staging of the Midas cichlid will aid researchers in the comparative investigation of teleost ontogenies. It will facilitate comparative developmental biological studies of Neotropical and African cichlid fish in particular. In the past, the species flocks of the African Great Lakes have received the most attention from researchers, but some lineages of the 300–400 species of Central American lakes are fascinating model systems for adaptive radiation and rapid phenotypic evolution. The availability of genetic resources, their status as a model system for evolutionary research, and the possibility to perform functional experiments including transgenesis makes the Midas cichlid complex a very attractive model for evolutionary-developmental research. BioMed Central 2015-02-26 /pmc/articles/PMC4352272/ /pubmed/25887993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12861-015-0061-1 Text en © Kratochwil et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kratochwil, Claudius F
Sefton, Maggie M
Meyer, Axel
Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title_full Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title_fullStr Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title_full_unstemmed Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title_short Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
title_sort embryonic and larval development in the midas cichlid fish species flock (amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352272/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25887993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12861-015-0061-1
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