The Identification of Genes Involved in the Evolution of Color Patterns in Fish

Overview

Journal Curr Opin Genet Dev

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Biology
Genetics

Date 2019 Aug 18

PMID 31421397

Citations 21

Authors

Uwe Irion

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The genetic basis of morphological variation, both within and between species, provides a major topic in evolutionary biology. Teleost fish produce most elaborate color patterns, and among the more than 20000 species a number have been chosen for more detailed analyses because they are suitable to study particular aspects of color pattern evolution. In several fish species, color variants and pattern variants have been collected, transcriptome analyses have been carried out, and the recent advent of gene editing tools, such as CRISPR/Cas9, has allowed the production of mutants. Covering mostly the literature from the last three years, we discuss the cellular basis of coloration and the identification of loci involved in color pattern differences between sister species in cichlids and Danio species, in which cis-regulatory changes seem to prevail.

Citing Articles

From spots to stripes: Evolution of pigmentation patterns in monkeyflowers via modulation of a reaction-diffusion system and its prepatterns.

Liang M, Ringham L, Ye C, Yan X, Schaumburger N, Cieslak M bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 39829766 PMC: 11741427. DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.10.632501.

The hybrid history of zebrafish.

McCluskey B, Batzel P, Postlethwait J G3 (Bethesda). 2024; 15(2).

PMID: 39698833 PMC: 11797037. DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae299.

Spotting the band.

Pokrajac N, Singh A Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024; 121(33):e2412259121.

PMID: 39102561 PMC: 11331082. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2412259121.

Linking discrete and continuous models of cell birth and migration.

Martinson W, Volkening A, Schmidtchen M, Venkataraman C, Carrillo J R Soc Open Sci. 2024; 11(7):232002.

PMID: 39021774 PMC: 11252671. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.232002.

Source diversity of Artemia enrichment boosts goldfish (Carassius auratus) performance, β-carotene content, pigmentation, immune-physiological and transcriptomic responses.

Elshafey A, Khalafalla M, Zaid A, Mohamed R, Abdel-Rahim M Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):21801.

PMID: 38065998 PMC: 10709595. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-48621-4.

References

Mahalwar P, Walderich B, Singh A, Nusslein-Volhard C . Local reorganization of xanthophores fine-tunes and colors the striped pattern of zebrafish. Science. 2014; 345(6202):1362-4. DOI: 10.1126/science.1254837. View

Kapp F, Perlin J, Hagedorn E, Gansner J, Schwarz D, OConnell L . Protection from UV light is an evolutionarily conserved feature of the haematopoietic niche. Nature. 2018; 558(7710):445-448. PMC: 6093292. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0213-0. View

Lorin T, Brunet F, Laudet V, Volff J . Teleost Fish-Specific Preferential Retention of Pigmentation Gene-Containing Families After Whole Genome Duplications in Vertebrates. G3 (Bethesda). 2018; 8(5):1795-1806. PMC: 5940169. DOI: 10.1534/g3.118.200201. View

Fadeev A, Mendoza-Garcia P, Irion U, Guan J, Pfeifer K, Wiessner S . ALKALs are in vivo ligands for ALK family receptor tyrosine kinases in the neural crest and derived cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018; 115(4):E630-E638. PMC: 5789956. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1719137115. View

Patterson L, Parichy D . Interactions with iridophores and the tissue environment required for patterning melanophores and xanthophores during zebrafish adult pigment stripe formation. PLoS Genet. 2013; 9(5):e1003561. PMC: 3667786. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003561. View

Spiewak J, Bain E, Liu J, Kou K, Sturiale S, Patterson L . Evolution of Endothelin signaling and diversification of adult pigment pattern in Danio fishes. PLoS Genet. 2018; 14(9):e1007538. PMC: 6161917. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007538. View

Watanabe M, Sawada R, Aramaki T, Skerrett I, Kondo S . The Physiological Characterization of Connexin41.8 and Connexin39.4, Which Are Involved in the Striped Pattern Formation of Zebrafish. J Biol Chem. 2015; 291(3):1053-63. PMC: 4714190. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M115.673129. View

Watanabe M, Iwashita M, Ishii M, Kurachi Y, Kawakami A, Kondo S . Spot pattern of leopard Danio is caused by mutation in the zebrafish connexin41.8 gene. EMBO Rep. 2006; 7(9):893-7. PMC: 1559663. DOI: 10.1038/sj.embor.7400757. View

Parichy D, Ransom D, Paw B, Zon L, Johnson S . An orthologue of the kit-related gene fms is required for development of neural crest-derived xanthophores and a subpopulation of adult melanocytes in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. Development. 2000; 127(14):3031-44. DOI: 10.1242/dev.127.14.3031. View

10.

Fadeev A, Krauss J, Singh A, Nusslein-Volhard C . Zebrafish Leucocyte tyrosine kinase controls iridophore establishment, proliferation and survival. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2016; 29(3):284-96. DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.12454. View

11.

Irion U, Frohnhofer H, Krauss J, Colak Champollion T, Maischein H, Geiger-Rudolph S . Gap junctions composed of connexins 41.8 and 39.4 are essential for colour pattern formation in zebrafish. Elife. 2014; 3:e05125. PMC: 4296512. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.05125. View

12.

Protas M, Hersey C, Kochanek D, Zhou Y, Wilkens H, Jeffery W . Genetic analysis of cavefish reveals molecular convergence in the evolution of albinism. Nat Genet. 2005; 38(1):107-11. DOI: 10.1038/ng1700. View

13.

Maan M, Sefc K . Colour variation in cichlid fish: developmental mechanisms, selective pressures and evolutionary consequences. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2013; 24(6-7):516-28. PMC: 3778878. DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2013.05.003. View

14.

Eom D, Inoue S, Patterson L, Gordon T, Slingwine R, Kondo S . Melanophore migration and survival during zebrafish adult pigment stripe development require the immunoglobulin superfamily adhesion molecule Igsf11. PLoS Genet. 2012; 8(8):e1002899. PMC: 3420941. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002899. View

15.

Henning F, Lee H, Franchini P, Meyer A . Genetic mapping of horizontal stripes in Lake Victoria cichlid fishes: benefits and pitfalls of using RAD markers for dense linkage mapping. Mol Ecol. 2014; 23(21):5224-40. DOI: 10.1111/mec.12860. View

16.

Millar S, Miller M, Stevens M, Barsh G . Expression and transgenic studies of the mouse agouti gene provide insight into the mechanisms by which mammalian coat color patterns are generated. Development. 1995; 121(10):3223-32. DOI: 10.1242/dev.121.10.3223. View

17.

Espinasa L, Robinson J, Espinasa M . Mc1r gene in Astroblepus pholeter and Astyanax mexicanus: Convergent regressive evolution of pigmentation across cavefish species. Dev Biol. 2018; 441(2):305-310. DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.07.016. View

18.

Volkening A, Sandstede B . Iridophores as a source of robustness in zebrafish stripes and variability in Danio patterns. Nat Commun. 2018; 9(1):3231. PMC: 6089994. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05629-z. View

19.

Watanabe M, Kondo S . Fish pigmentation. Comment on "Local reorganization of xanthophores fine-tunes and colors the striped pattern of zebrafish". Science. 2015; 348(6232):297. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261947. View

20.

Singh A, Dinwiddie A, Mahalwar P, Schach U, Linker C, Irion U . Pigment Cell Progenitors in Zebrafish Remain Multipotent through Metamorphosis. Dev Cell. 2016; 38(3):316-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2016.06.020. View