Sentences with phrase «cichlid genomes»

We conclude that a number of molecular mechanisms shaped East African cichlid genomes, and that amassing of standing variation during periods of relaxed purifying selection may have been important in facilitating subsequent evolutionary diversification.

Compared with the ancestral lineage, the East African cichlid genomes possess: an excess of gene duplications; alterations in regulatory, non-protein-coding elements in the genome; accelerated evolution of protein - coding elements, especially in genes for pigmentation; and other distinct features that affect gene expression, such as insertions of transposable elements and regulation by novel microRNAs.

The researchers uncovered a variety of features in the cichlid genome that enabled the fishes to thrive in new habitats and ecological niches within the Great Lakes of East Africa.

The researchers wanted to examine the cichlid genome as a model system and determine what allowed these fishes to diversify broadly in a relatively short time.

Not exact matches

«This combination of characters is particularly interesting, because molecular geneticists have shown that many of the cichlid species in Lake Tanganyika possess «mosaic» genomes — made up of genetic material derived from non-related species.

«Our study reveals a spectrum of methods that nature uses to allow organisms to adapt to different environments,» said senior author Kerstin Lindblad - Toh, Scientific Director of Vertebrate Genome Biology at the Broad Institute: «These mechanisms are likely to be also at work in humans and other vertebrates, and by focusing on the remarkably diverse cichlid fishes, we were able to study this process on a broad scale for the first time.»

In an effort to understand the molecular basis of adaptation in vertebrates, researchers sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five species of the African cichlid fish.

To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying cichlid phenotypic diversity, we sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five lineages of African cichlids: the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), an ancestral lineage with low diversity; and four members of the East African lineage: Neolamprologus brichardi / pulcher (older radiation, Lake Tanganyika), Metriaclima zebra (recent radiation, Lake Malawi), Pundamilia nyererei (very recent radiation, Lake Victoria), and Astatotilapia burtoni (riverine species around Lake Tanganyika).

In an effort to understand the molecular basis of adaptation in vertebrates, researchers sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five species of African cichlid fishes.

«Our study reveals a spectrum of methods that nature uses to allow organisms to adapt to different environments,» said co-senior author Kerstin Lindblad - Toh, Co-Director of SciLifeLab, scientific director of vertebrate genome biology at the Broad Institute and professor in comparative genomics at Uppsala University «These mechanisms are likely also at work in humans and other vertebrates, and by focusing on the remarkably diverse cichlid fishes, we were able to study this process on a broad scale for the first time.»