title: Fish lateral line innovation: insights into the evolutionary genomic dynamics of a unique mechanosensory organ.
abstract: The mechanosensory lateral line, found only in fishes and amphibians, is an important sense organ associated with aquatic life. Lateral line patterns differ among teleost, the most diverse vertebrate taxa, hypothetically in response to selective pressures from different aquatic habitats. In this article, we conduct evolutionary genomic analyses of 34 genes associated with lateral line system development in teleosts to elucidate the significance of contrasting evolutionary rates and changes in the protein coding sequences. We find that duplicated copies of these genes are preferentially retained in the teleost genomes and that episodic events of positive selection have occurred in 22 of the 30 postduplication branches. In general, teleost genes evolved at a faster rate relative to their tetrapod counterparts, and the mutation rates of 26 of the 34 genes differed among teleosts and tetrapods. We conclude that following whole genome duplication, evolutionary rates and episodic events of positive selection on the lateral line system development genes might have been one of the factors favoring the subsequent adaptive radiation of teleosts into diverse habitats. These results provide the foundation for further detailed explorations into lateral line system genes and the evolution of diverse phenotypes and adaptations.
authors: CIMAR/CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors: Siby
authors: S
authors: Philip
authors: João Paulo
authors: JP
authors: Machado
authors: Emanuel
authors: E
authors: Maldonado
authors: Vítor
authors: V
authors: Vasconcelos
authors: Stephen J
authors: SJ
authors: O'Brien
authors: Warren E
authors: WE
authors: Johnson
authors: Agostinho
authors: A
authors: Antunes
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D019295:Computational Biology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics*; D020131:Genes, Duplicate / Q000235:genetics*; D053403:Lateral Line System / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D059645:Mutation Rate; D010802:Phylogeny; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D026801:Synteny / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003062:Codon