Cargando…

A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species

Fish color patterns are among the most diverse phenotypic traits found in the animal kingdom. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control in chromatophore distribution and pigmentation underlying this diversity is a major goal in developmental and evolutionary biology, which has...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ahi, Ehsan Pashay, Sefc, Kristina M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5228514/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28097057
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2843
_version_ 1782493964196118528
author Ahi, Ehsan Pashay
Sefc, Kristina M.
author_facet Ahi, Ehsan Pashay
Sefc, Kristina M.
author_sort Ahi, Ehsan Pashay
collection PubMed
description Fish color patterns are among the most diverse phenotypic traits found in the animal kingdom. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control in chromatophore distribution and pigmentation underlying this diversity is a major goal in developmental and evolutionary biology, which has predominantly been pursued in the zebrafish model system. Here, we apply results from zebrafish work to study a naturally occurring color pattern phenotype in the fins of an African cichlid species from Lake Tanganyika. The cichlid fish Neolamprologus meeli displays a distinct dorsal color pattern, with black and white stripes along the edges of the dorsal fin and of the dorsal half of the caudal fin, corresponding with differences in melanophore density. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms controlling the differences in dorsal and ventral color patterning in the fins, we quantitatively assessed the expression of 15 candidate target genes involved in adult zebrafish pigmentation and stripe formation. For reference gene validation, we screened the expression stability of seven widely expressed genes across the investigated tissue samples and identified tbp as appropriate reference. Relative expression levels of the candidate target genes were compared between the dorsal, striped fin regions and the corresponding uniform, grey-colored regions in the anal and ventral caudal fin. Dorso-ventral expression differences, with elevated levels in both white and black stripes, were observed in two genes, the melanosome protein coding gene pmel and in igsf11, which affects melanophore adhesion, migration and survival. Next, we predicted potential shared upstream regulators of pmel and igsf11. Testing the expression patterns of six predicted transcriptions factors revealed dorso-ventral expression difference of irf1 and significant, negative expression correlation of irf1 with both pmel and igsf11. Based on these results, we propose pmel, igsf11 and irf1 as likely components of the genetic mechanism controlling distinct dorso-ventral color patterns in N. meeli fins.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5228514
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-52285142017-01-17 A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species Ahi, Ehsan Pashay Sefc, Kristina M. PeerJ Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science Fish color patterns are among the most diverse phenotypic traits found in the animal kingdom. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control in chromatophore distribution and pigmentation underlying this diversity is a major goal in developmental and evolutionary biology, which has predominantly been pursued in the zebrafish model system. Here, we apply results from zebrafish work to study a naturally occurring color pattern phenotype in the fins of an African cichlid species from Lake Tanganyika. The cichlid fish Neolamprologus meeli displays a distinct dorsal color pattern, with black and white stripes along the edges of the dorsal fin and of the dorsal half of the caudal fin, corresponding with differences in melanophore density. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms controlling the differences in dorsal and ventral color patterning in the fins, we quantitatively assessed the expression of 15 candidate target genes involved in adult zebrafish pigmentation and stripe formation. For reference gene validation, we screened the expression stability of seven widely expressed genes across the investigated tissue samples and identified tbp as appropriate reference. Relative expression levels of the candidate target genes were compared between the dorsal, striped fin regions and the corresponding uniform, grey-colored regions in the anal and ventral caudal fin. Dorso-ventral expression differences, with elevated levels in both white and black stripes, were observed in two genes, the melanosome protein coding gene pmel and in igsf11, which affects melanophore adhesion, migration and survival. Next, we predicted potential shared upstream regulators of pmel and igsf11. Testing the expression patterns of six predicted transcriptions factors revealed dorso-ventral expression difference of irf1 and significant, negative expression correlation of irf1 with both pmel and igsf11. Based on these results, we propose pmel, igsf11 and irf1 as likely components of the genetic mechanism controlling distinct dorso-ventral color patterns in N. meeli fins. PeerJ Inc. 2017-01-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5228514/ /pubmed/28097057 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2843 Text en ©2017 Ahi and Sefc http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 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, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science
Ahi, Ehsan Pashay
Sefc, Kristina M.
A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title_full A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title_fullStr A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title_full_unstemmed A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title_short A gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of Neolamprologus meeli, an African cichlid species
title_sort gene expression study of dorso-ventrally restricted pigment pattern in adult fins of neolamprologus meeli, an african cichlid species
topic Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5228514/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28097057
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2843
work_keys_str_mv AT ahiehsanpashay ageneexpressionstudyofdorsoventrallyrestrictedpigmentpatterninadultfinsofneolamprologusmeelianafricancichlidspecies
AT sefckristinam ageneexpressionstudyofdorsoventrallyrestrictedpigmentpatterninadultfinsofneolamprologusmeelianafricancichlidspecies
AT ahiehsanpashay geneexpressionstudyofdorsoventrallyrestrictedpigmentpatterninadultfinsofneolamprologusmeelianafricancichlidspecies
AT sefckristinam geneexpressionstudyofdorsoventrallyrestrictedpigmentpatterninadultfinsofneolamprologusmeelianafricancichlidspecies