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Dual control by a single gene of secondary sexual characters and mating preferences in medaka.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Animals utilize a wide variety of tactics to attract reproductive partners. Behavioral experiments often indicate an important role for visual cues in fish, but their molecular basis remains almost entirely unknown. Studies on model species (such as zebrafish and medaka) allow investigations into this fundamental question in behavioral and evolutionary biology. RESULTS: Through mate-choice experiences using several laboratory strains of various body colors, we successfully identified one medaka mutant (color interfere; ci) that is distinctly unattractive to reproductive partners. This unattractiveness seems to be due to reduced orange pigment cells (xanthophores) in the skin. The ci strain carries a mutation on the somatolactin alpha (SLa) gene, therefore we expected over-expression of SLa to make medaka hyper-attractive. Indeed, extremely strong mating preferences were detected in a choice between the ci and SLa-transgenic (Actb-SLa:GFP) medaka. Intriguingly, however, the strains showed opposite biases; that is, the mutant and transgenic medaka liked to mate with partners from their own strain, similar to becoming sexually isolated. CONCLUSION: This study spotlighted SLa as a novel mate-choice gene in fish. In addition, these results are the first demonstration of a single gene that can pleiotropically and harmoniously change both secondary sexual characters and mating preferences. Although theoretical models have long suggested joint evolution of linked genes on a chromosome, a mutation on a gene-regulatory region (that is, switching on/off of a single gene) might be sufficient to trigger two 'runaway' processes in different directions to promote (sympatric) speciation.

SUBMITTER: Fukamachi S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2761876 | biostudies-other | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Dual control by a single gene of secondary sexual characters and mating preferences in medaka.

Fukamachi Shoji S Kinoshita Masato M Aizawa Kouichi K Oda Shoji S Meyer Axel A Mitani Hiroshi H

BMC biology 20090929

<h4>Background</h4>Animals utilize a wide variety of tactics to attract reproductive partners. Behavioral experiments often indicate an important role for visual cues in fish, but their molecular basis remains almost entirely unknown. Studies on model species (such as zebrafish and medaka) allow investigations into this fundamental question in behavioral and evolutionary biology.<h4>Results</h4>Through mate-choice experiences using several laboratory strains of various body colors, we successful ...[more]

PMID: 19788724

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Project description:The origins and maintenance of the rich fungal diversity have been longstanding issues in evolutionary biology. To investigate how differences in expression regulation contribute to divergences in development and ecology among closely related species, transcriptomes were compared between Chaetomium globosum, a homothallic pathogenic fungus thriving in highly humid ecologies, and Neurospora crassa, a heterothallic postfire saprotroph. Gene expression was quantified in perithecia at nine distinct morphological stages during nearly synchronous sexual development. Unlike N. crassa, expression of all mating loci in C. globosum was highly correlated. Key regulators of the initiation of sexual development in response to light stimuli-including orthologs of N. crassa sub-1, sub-1-dependent gene NCU00309, and asl-1-showed regulatory dynamics matching between C. globosum and N. crassa Among 24 secondary metabolism gene clusters in C. globosum, 11-including the cochliodones biosynthesis cluster-exhibited highly coordinated expression across perithecial development. C. globosum exhibited coordinately upregulated expression of histidine kinases in hyperosmotic response pathways-consistent with gene expression responses to high humidity we identified in fellow pathogen Fusarium graminearum Bayesian networks indicated that gene interactions during sexual development have diverged in concert with the capacities both to reproduce asexually and to live a self-compatible versus self-incompatible life cycle, shifting the hierarchical roles of genes associated with conidiation and heterokaryon incompatibility in N. crassa and C. globosum This divergence supports an evolutionary history of loss of conidiation due to unfavorable combinations of heterokaryon incompatibility in homothallic species.IMPORTANCE Fungal diversity has amazed evolutionary biologists for decades. One societally important aspect of this diversity manifests in traits that enable pathogenicity. The opportunistic pathogen Chaetomium globosum is well adapted to a high-humidity environment and produces numerous secondary metabolites that defend it from predation. Many of these chemicals can threaten human health. Understanding the phases of the C. globosum life cycle in which these products are made enables better control and even utilization of this fungus. Among its intriguing traits is that it both is self-fertile and lacks any means of propagule-based asexual reproduction. By profiling genome-wide gene expression across the process of sexual reproduction in C. globosum and comparing it to genome-wide gene expression in the model filamentous fungus N. crassa and other closely related fungi, we revealed associations among mating-type genes, sexual developmental genes, sexual incompatibility regulators, environmentally responsive genes, and secondary metabolic pathways.

Dataset Information

Dual control by a single gene of secondary sexual characters and mating preferences in medaka.

Publications

Dual control by a single gene of secondary sexual characters and mating preferences in medaka.

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