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Gene duplications and the evolution of c-type lysozyme during adaptive radiation of East African cichlid fish

  • ADVANCES IN CICHLID RESEARCH II
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Abstract

The adaptive radiation of African cichlids is a prime model system for studying vertebrate speciation. Cichlid species are distributed in lakes and rivers with various water conditions such as various pH values. The innate immune system in fish is particularly important because water contains a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms. To investigate the evolution of the host defense system in cichlids, we isolated the c-type lysozyme gene, which functions in the innate immune system of fish. Southern blot and sequence analyses showed that the lysozyme gene underwent several gene duplication events and evolved with amino acid replacements during the adaptive radiation of cichlids. The inferred 3D structure revealed that the amino acid substitutions were localized on the lysozyme surface. Moreover, more than half of the surface substitutions changed the charge of amino acid residues, suggesting changes in the optimum pH for enzymatic activity. In African cichlids, the lysozyme genes may have played and still play an important role in defense against pathogens.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan Grants to Y.T. (Nos. 23570269 and 26440209), an internal SOKENDAI Grant to Y.T., and the Center for the Promotion of Integrated Sciences (CPIS) of SOKENDAI Grant to Y.T. I thank Dr. Tetsumi Takahashi (Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Japan; present address: Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Hyogo) for identification of Lake Tanganyika cichlids, and Dr. Norihiro Okada (Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology; present address: Foundation of Advancement of International Science, Japan; National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan) for providing laboratory space and experimental equipment.

Author contributions

ST.K.: determination and analysis of lysozyme sequences, manuscript editing. H.T.: manuscript editing. Y.T.: research concept, research planning, all experiments, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Shonan Village, Hayama, Japan

      Shiho Takahashi-Kariyazono & Yohey Terai

    2. Department of Biology and Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, 3-3-138, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

      Hirokazu Tanaka

    3. Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8501, Japan

      Yohey Terai

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    1. Shiho Takahashi-Kariyazono
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    Correspondence to Yohey Terai.

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    Shiho Takahashi-Kariyazono and Yohey Terai have contributed equally to this work.

    Guest editors: S. Koblmüller, R. C. Albertson, M. J. Genner, K. M. Sefc & T. Takahashi / Advances in Cichlid Research II: Behavior, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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    Takahashi-Kariyazono, S., Tanaka, H. & Terai, Y. Gene duplications and the evolution of c-type lysozyme during adaptive radiation of East African cichlid fish. Hydrobiologia 791, 7–20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2892-6

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