BackgroundAn emerging cavefish model, the cyprinid genus Sinocyclocheilus, is endemic to the massive southwestern karst area adjacent to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China. In order to understand whether orogeny influenced the evolution of these species, and how genomes change under isolation, especially in subterranean habitats, we performed whole-genome sequencing and comparative analyses of three species in this genus, S. grahami, S. rhinocerous and S. anshuiensis. These species are surface-dwelling, semi-cave-dwelling and cave-restricted, respectively.ResultsThe assembled genome sizes of S. grahami, S. rhinocerous and S. anshuiensis are 1.75 Gb, 1.73 Gb and 1.68 Gb, respectively. Divergence time and population history analyses of these species reveal that their speciation and population dynamics are correlated with the different stages of uplifting of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We carried out comparative analyses of these genomes and found that many genetic changes, such as gene loss (e.g. opsin genes), pseudogenes (e.g. crystallin genes), mutations (e.g. melanogenesis-related genes), deletions (e.g. scale-related genes) and down-regulation (e.g. circadian rhythm pathway genes), are possibly associated with the regressive features (such as eye degeneration, albinism, rudimentary scales and lack of circadian rhythms), and that some gene expansion (e.g. taste-related transcription factor gene) may point to the constructive features (such as enhanced taste buds) which evolved in these cave fishes.ConclusionAs the first report on cavefish genomes among distinct species in Sinocyclocheilus, our work provides not only insights into genetic mechanisms of cave adaptation, but also represents a fundamental resource for a better understanding of cavefish biology.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-015-0223-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Previous studies suggested that the topological properties of brain anatomical networks may be aberrant in schizophrenia (SCZ), and most of them focused on the chronic and antipsychotic-medicated SCZ patients which may introduce various confounding factors due to antipsychotic medication and duration of illness. To avoid those potential confounders, a desirable approach is to select medication-naïve, first-episode schizophrenia (FE-SCZ) patients. In this study, we acquired diffusion tensor imaging datasets from 30 FE-SCZ patients and 34 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Taking a distinct gray matter region as a node, inter-regional connectivity as edge and the corresponding streamline counts as edge weight, we constructed whole-brain anatomical networks for both groups, calculated their topological parameters using graph theory, and compared their between-group differences using nonparametric permutation tests. In addition, network-based statistic method was utilized to identify inter-regional connections which were impaired in the FE-SCZ patients. We detected only significantly decreased inter-regional connections in the FE-SCZ patients compared to the controls. These connections were primarily located in the frontal, parietal, occipital, and subcortical regions. Although small-worldness was conserved in the FE-SCZ patients, we found that the network strength and global efficiency as well as the degree were significantly decreased, and shortest path length was significantly increased in the FE-SCZ patients compared to the controls. Most of the regions that showed significantly decreased nodal parameters belonged to the top-down control, sensorimotor, basal ganglia, and limbic-visual system systems. Correlation analysis indicated that the nodal efficiency in the sensorimotor system was negatively correlated with the severity of psychosis symptoms in the FE-SCZ patients. Our results suggest that the network organization is changed in the early stages of the SCZ disease process. Our findings provide useful information for further understanding the brain white matter dysconnectivity of schizophrenia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.