Patterns of phenotypic similarity in the haplochromine cichlids of the Lake Victoria Region Superflock: an eco-morphological and genomic approach.

Species that look very similar are not always closely related. Numerous examples of so-called convergent evolution have been reported: the flippers of penguins and dolphins, the wings of bats, birds, and insects, and the striking similarity between the eyes of humans and squids. Although structures look similar, the mechanisms of how they developed can be different. The Lake Victoria region (lakes Edward, Kivu, Albert, Victoria), is inhabited by 700 species of cichlids, a family of perch-like fishes that evolved very rapidly. Each of these species inhabits a single lake, and many species look very similar, both within a lake and between lakes. How they are related to each other has, however, remains unknown. Their young age and many similarities make these cichlids a perfect system to investigate how similar forms arise. Are they more closely related to each other or did they evolve independently from each other, and if so, which mechanisms underlie their similarity? For this, we will collect morphological and genomic data from 100 species from four distinct lakes. Similarities between species will be quantified, how similar species are related to each other will be genetically determined, and the regions of their DNA that contribute to their similarity will be determined. This will allow us to determine how these young species are related to each other and how similarities emerge within distinct species of cichlids from the Lake Victoria region.

Keywords:SPECIATION, EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS, CICHLIDS

Disciplines:Analysis of next-generation sequence data, Computational evolutionary biology, comparative genomics and population genomics, Speciation

Project type:Collaboration project