Trends in Genetics
OpinionMagic Traits in Magic Fish: Understanding Color Pattern Evolution Using Reef Fish
Section snippets
Why Study Reef Fish and Their Color Patterns?
Questions regarding the diversity, evolution, and ecological significance of color patterns (see Glossary) have caught scientists’ attention for centuries [1]. Pigmentation has been studied using a wide variety of animal models from hexapods to vertebrates 1, 2. Fruit flies and mice are still important models to study pigmentation genes [3] but, over the last few years, teleost fish have also became efficient systems for addressing questions related to color patterns. Zebrafish and medaka are
Diversity and Function of Color Patterns in Reef Fish
Reef fish harbor a myriad of colors and associated patterns. Some display uniform body color such as the blue–green damselfish Chromis viridis (Figure 2A), whereas others show complex patterns as seen in the clown triggerfish Balistoides conspicillum (Figure 2B). The latter combines a series of large ventral white spots, with a dorsal yellow shield punctuated with small brown spots. Strikingly, some reef fish species share ornamental similarities, whereas others have the exact same color
Understanding the Ontogeny of Color Patterns Using Fish Models
Developmental studies are needed to provide additional information on proximate mechanisms, allowing the emergence of various color patterns during development and evolution. Up to now, cellular and molecular studies have mainly been carried out using zebrafish (Danio rerio), a widely used model. Thanks to the genetic and live imaging tools developed in this species, it has been possible to investigate the mechanisms underlying color pattern formation and evolution.
Integrating Ecology with Evo/Devo to Understand the Color Patterns of Reef Fish
Integrating ecology with evolution and development allows us to address how developmental mechanisms modified during evolutionary changes are selected. If zebrafish with its unique toolkit is an excellent model to understand the development of reiterated striped pattern, its ecological diversity is limited, and thus how the developmental mechanisms at the origin of variation in the pigmentation patterns have been selected remains unknown. This is why reef fish, with their diversity of pigment
Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives
Color patterns in reef fish, with their extreme divergence and plasticity, can indeed be considered as a ‘magic trait’ that may easily lead to speciation [53]. Thanks to work on the zebrafish model, we have more knowledge about the developmental mechanisms generating color patterns. The combination of ecological analysis with genomic and/or developmental analysis using magic reef fish as model systems (in addition to other valuable models such as cichlids and guppies) will help to provide an
Acknowledgments
Work from our laboratories is funded by the CNRS (France), the Sorbonne Université (France), ENS Lyon (France), and the FNRS (Belgium). We thank Fabio Cortesi, Nico Michiels, Shigeru Kondo, Matthias Wucherer, Makoto Goda, Hans Georg Frohnhöfer, Yuko Wakamatsu, Germain Boussarie, Philippe Bourjon, Joe De Vroe, Mark Rosenstein, Derek Ramsey, Franck Merlier, Anders Poulsen, Alan Sutton, Guido Poppe, and Philippe Poppe for the pictures used in the Figures. We also thank Natacha Roux, Laurence
Glossary
- Color pattern
- distribution of color across the body.
- Color polymorphism
- consequence of developmental plasticity, in which the trajectories of developing organisms diverge under the influence of ultimate cues.
- Eco/Evo/Devo
- the interactions between the environment, genes, and development of an organism, and their consequences in evolution.
- Eyespots (or ocelli)
- concentric markings that contrast with the surrounding area.
- Eye stripes
- a dark bar that runs through the eye, matching the eye color and therefore
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Light-specific wavelengths differentially affect the exploration rate, opercular beat, skin color change, opsin transcripts, and the oxi-redox system of the longsnout seahorse Hippocampus reidi
2024, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -Part A : Molecular and Integrative PhysiologyKnockout of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (mitf) confers a red and yellow tilapia with few pigmented melanophores
2023, AquacultureCitation Excerpt :Fish, amphibians and reptiles share the same six types of pigment cells (also known as chromatophores). They are melanophores, xanthophores, iridophores, leucophores, erythrophores and cyanophores (Fujii, 2000; Sköld et al., 2016; Salis et al., 2019). The pigment cells are differentiated from pluripotent precursors in the neural crest (neural crest cells, NCCs) and migrate to their destinations (Fukamachi et al., 2004; Lopes et al., 2008; Kimura et al., 2014).
Evolution of pigment cells and patterns: recent insights from teleost fishes
2021, Current Opinion in Genetics and DevelopmentCitation Excerpt :Finally, there is perhaps no group that better exemplifies diversity in pigmentation than reef fishes, which have pattern features, and probably cell types, not present in other models (Figure 4d). Advances in evolutionary genetic approaches, computational pattern description, gene editing, and captive husbandry are already making some of these patterns accessible to analysis [38••,59,60]. The prospect of identifying genes and cell behaviors underlying pattern diversification in these fishes is just one small reason, among many larger reasons, to preserve such extraordinary diversity and the environment it depends on.
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2020, Seminars in Cell and Developmental BiologyCitation Excerpt :Anemonefishes are widely recognised by their dark tan to bright orange skin and bright white stripes with a black rim. Lineage diversification in the number and placement of the white stripes appears to have a strong phylogenetic component [58,59] regulated by a developmental pathway [60,61]. The functional aspect of anemonefish skin colour and pattern is less clear, due to a lack of empirical testing.
Diving into the diversity of colour patterns in reef fishes
2024, Molecular Ecology