Ciliary Rootlet Coiled-Coil 2 (crocc2) Is Associated with Evolutionary Divergence and Plasticity of Cichlid Jaw Shape

Cichlid fishes exhibit rapid, extensive, and replicative adaptive radiation in feeding morphology. Plasticity of the cichlid jaw has also been well documented, and this combination of iterative evolution and developmental plasticity has led to the proposition that the cichlid feeding apparatus represents a morphological “flexible stem.” Under this scenario, the fixation of environmentally sensitive genetic variation drives evolutionary divergence along a phenotypic axis established by the initial plastic response. Thus, if plasticity is predictable then so too should be the evolutionary response. We set out to explore these ideas at the molecular level by identifying genes that underlie both the evolution and plasticity of the cichlid jaw. As a first step, we fine-mapped an environment-specific quantitative trait loci for lower jaw shape in cichlids, and identified a nonsynonymous mutation in the ciliary rootlet coiled-coil 2 (crocc2), which encodes a major structural component of the primary cilium. Given that primary cilia play key roles in skeletal mechanosensing, we reasoned that this gene may confer its effects by regulating the sensitivity of bone to respond to mechanical input. Using both cichlids and zebrafish, we confirmed this prediction through a series of experiments targeting multiple levels of biological organization. Taken together, our results implicate crocc2 as a novel mediator of bone formation, plasticity, and evolution.