Article,

The Developmental and Genetic Architecture of the Sexually Selected Male Ornament of Swordtails

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Curr Biol, 31 (5): 911-922 e4 (2021)Schartl, Manfred Kneitz, Susanne Ormanns, Jenny Schmidt, Cornelia Anderson, Jennifer L Amores, Angel Catchen, Julian Wilson, Catherine Geiger, Dietmar Du, Kang Garcia-Olazabal, Mateo Sudaram, Sudha Winkler, Christoph Hedrich, Rainer Warren, Wesley C Walter, Ronald Meyer, Axel Postlethwait, John H eng R24 RR032658/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ R35 GM139635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ R01 OD011116/OD/NIH HHS/ R24 OD018555/OD/NIH HHS/ R01 GM085318/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2020/12/05 Curr Biol. 2021 Mar 8;31(5):911-922.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.028. Epub 2020 Dec 3..
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.028

Abstract

Sexual selection results in sex-specific characters like the conspicuously pigmented extension of the ventral tip of the caudal fin-the "sword"-in males of several species of Xiphophorus fishes. To uncover the genetic architecture underlying sword formation and to identify genes that are associated with its development, we characterized the sword transcriptional profile and combined it with genetic mapping approaches. Results showed that the male ornament of swordtails develops from a sexually non-dimorphic prepattern of transcription factors in the caudal fin. Among genes that constitute the exclusive sword transcriptome and are located in the genomic region associated with this trait we identify the potassium channel, Kcnh8, as a sword development gene. In addition to its neural function kcnh8 performs a known role in fin growth. These findings indicate that during evolution of swordtails a brain gene has been co-opted for an additional novel function in establishing a male ornament.

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