Researchers report genetic analysis of bower building behaviors in cichlid fishes in Lake Malawi. Cichlid fishes in Lake Malawi, Africa display species-specific innate behaviors related to bower building, with some species digging bower pits and others building volcano-shaped castles, to attract females for mating. J. Todd Streelman, Russ Fernald, Hunter Fraser, and colleagues performed genome-wide comparative analysis of 20 bower building species. The authors found thousands of genetic variants associated with both bower building behaviors, as well as evolutionary evidence that the castle building behavior developed more recently than the pit building behavior. The authors report that the genetic variants are both ancestral, or common with other cichlids outside Lake Malawi, and derived, or endemic to the lake. Hybrids between pit building and castle building species displayed both behaviors, first constructing a pit and then a castle. The hybrids exhibited different patterns of allele expression during each bower building phase, suggesting a role for gene regulation in behavior. According to the authors, the results suggest that natural behaviors are due to complex patterns of genetic variation and regulation in particular behavioral contexts.
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Article #18-10140: "Behavior-dependent cis regulation reveals genes and pathways associated with bower building in cichlid fishes," by Ryan York et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: J. Todd Streelman, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA; tel: 404 385-4435; e-mail: <todd.streelman@biology.gatech.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences