caa a22 4500 445821051 CHVBK 20180317145244.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110801xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00239-011-9452-5 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00239-011-9452-5 Positive Darwinian Selection Drives the Evolution of the Morphology-Related Gene, EPCAM, in Particularly Species-Rich Lineages of African Cichlid Fishes [Elektronische Daten] [Shaohua Fan, Kathryn Elmer, Axel Meyer] The study of genetic evolution within the context of adaptive radiations offers insights to genes and selection pressures that result in rapid morphological change. Cichlid fishes are very species-rich and variable in coloration, behavior, and morphology, and so provide a classical model system for studying the genetics of adaptive radiation. In this study, we researched the evolution of the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM), a candidate gene for the adaptive evolution of morphology broadly, and skin development specifically, in fishes. We compared EPCAM gene sequences from a rapidly speciating African cichlid lineage (the haplochromines), a species-poor African lineage (Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus), and a very young adaptive radiation in the Neotropics (sympatric crater lake Midas cichlids, Amphilophus sp.). Our results, based on a hierarchy of evolutionary analyses of nucleotide substitution, demonstrate that there are different selection pressures on the EPCAM gene among the cichlid lineages. Several waves of positive natural selection were identified not only on the terminal branches, but also on ancestral branches. Interestingly, significant positive or directional selection was found in the haplochromine cichlids only but not the comparatively species-poor tilapia lineage. We hypothesize that the strong signal of selection in the ancestral African cichlid lineage coincided with the transition from riverine to lacustrine habitat. The two neotropical species for which we collected new sequence data were invariant in the EPCAM locus. Our results suggest that functional changes promoted by positive Darwinian selection are widespread in the EPCAM gene during African cichlid evolution. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2011 Positive Darwinian selection nationallicence Epithelial cell adhesion molecule nationallicence Adaptive radiation nationallicence Fan Shaohua Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut Elmer Kathryn Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut Meyer Axel Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut Journal of Molecular Evolution Springer-Verlag 73/1-2(2011-08-01), 1-9 0022-2844 73:1-2<1 2011 73 239 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-011-9452-5 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-011-9452-5 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Fan Shaohua Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Elmer Kathryn Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Meyer Axel Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätstrasse 10, 78457, Constance, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Molecular Evolution Springer-Verlag 73/1-2(2011-08-01), 1-9 0022-2844 73:1-2<1 2011 73 239 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer