Repeated and Widespread Evolution of Bioluminescence in Marine Fishes

Davis, Matthew P.; Sparks, John S.; Smith, William L.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155154

Cited by 91 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…It is indeed an important and rather common evolutionary phenomenom, which may involve all kinds of traits, including behavioural, morphological, developmental, and molecular ones. (Davis, Sparks, & Smith, ; Friedman, Price, Hoey, & Wainwright, ; Gallant et al., ; Losos, ; Losos, Jackman, Larson, de Queiroz, & Rodriguez‐Schettino, ; Mahler, Ingram, Revell, & Losos, ; Pfenning et al., ; Ujvari et al., ; Vidal‐García & Keogh, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting the molecular basis of phenotypic convergence

et al. 2018

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Convergence is the process by which several species independently develop similar traits. This evolutionary process is not only strongly related to fundamental questions such as the predictability of evolution and the role of adaptation, its study also may provide new insights about genes involved in the convergent phenotype. We focus on this latter question and aim to detect the molecular basis of a given phenotypic convergence. After pointing out a number of concerns with current detection methods based on ancestral reconstruction, we propose a novel approach combining an original measure, called convergence index, which associates to any proteic site a quantity reflecting the extent to which it supports a phenotypic convergence, with a statistical framework for selecting genes from the convergence indices of all their sites. First, our measure of the “convergence level” outperforms two previous ones in distinguishing simulated convergent sites from nonconvergent ones. Second, by applying our detection approach to the well‐studied case of convergent echolocation between dolphins and bats, we identified a set of genes which is very significantly annotated with audition‐related GO terms. This result constitutes an indirect evidence that genes involved in a phenotypic convergence can be identified with a genome‐wide approach, a point which was highly debated, notably in the echolocation case. Our approach paves the way to systematic studies of numerous examples of convergent evolution in order to link convergent phenotypes to genotypes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting the molecular basis of phenotypic convergence

et al. 2018

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“…It was known that bioluminescence has evolved independently more than 40 times, with males often using it as a mating signal but with also some other possible adaptive functions including anti-predator defense and predation. Moreover, it has been reported that small marine lanternfishes and sharks that use bioluminescence in mate identification had a greater concentration of species than other deep-sea fishes that use bioluminescence for defensive purposes [2][3][4]. But no one had ever determined whether this pattern is consistent across diverse and distantly related animal groups living on sea and land.…”

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confidence: 99%

Bioluminescent sexually selected traits as an engine for biodiversity across animal species

Groot¹,

Smadja²

2017

PCI Evol Biol

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26:1916-1921. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.043 In evolutionary biology, sexual selection is hypothesized to increase speciation rates in animals, as theory predicts that sexual selection will contribute to phenotypic diversification and affect rates of species accumulation at macroevolutionary time scales. However, testing this hypothesis and gathering convincing evidence have proven difficult. Although some studies have shown a strong correlation between proxies of sexual selection and species diversity (mostly in birds), this relationship relies on some assumptions on the link between these proxies and the strength of sexual selection and is not detected in some other taxa, making taxonomically widespread conclusions impossible.In a recent study published in Current Biology [1], Ellis and Oakley provide strong evidence that bioluminescent sexual displays have driven high species richness in taxonomically diverse animal lineages, providing a crucial link between sexual selection and speciation. It was known that bioluminescence has evolved independently more than 40 times, with males often using it as a mating signal but with also some other

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“…Although, this possibility might at first sight appear remote, endosymbiotic bacteria fulfil many functions in vertebrates, including the production of bioluminescence in many deep sea fish18. Such bacterially mediated bioluminescent symbiosis has evolved at least 27 times across diverse orders of ray-finned fishes19, indicating the scope for the evolution of such prokaryote/eukaryote relationships. A third, less likely, possibility is that the photosensitizer is manufactured by Malacosteus itself with appropriate genes being incorporated into the animal’s genome, potentially by horizontal gene transfer from prokaryotes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Localisation and origin of the bacteriochlorophyll-derived photosensitizer in the retina of the deep-sea dragon fish Malacosteus niger

Douglas

Genner

Hudson³

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Most deep-sea fish have a single visual pigment maximally sensitive at short wavelengths, approximately matching the spectrum of both downwelling sunlight and bioluminescence. However, Malcosteus niger produces far-red bioluminescence and its longwave retinal sensitivity is enhanced by red-shifted visual pigments, a longwave reflecting tapetum and, uniquely, a bacteriochlorophyll-derived photosensitizer. The origin of the photosensitizer, however, remains unclear. We investigated whether the bacteriochlorophyll was produced by endosymbiotic bacteria within unusual structures adjacent to the photoreceptors that had previously been described in this species. However, microscopy, elemental analysis and SYTOX green staining provided no evidence for such localised retinal bacteria, instead the photosensitizer was shown to be distributed throughout the retina. Furthermore, comparison of mRNA from the retina of Malacosteus to that of the closely related Pachystomias microdon (which does not contain a bacterichlorophyll-derived photosensitzer) revealed no genes of bacterial origin that were specifically up-regulated in Malacosteus. Instead up-regulated Malacosteus genes were associated with photosensitivity and may relate to its unique visual ecology and the chlorophyll-based visual system. We also suggest that the unusual longwave-reflecting, astaxanthin-based, tapetum of Malacosteus may protect the retina from the potential cytotoxicity of such a system.

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Repeated and Widespread Evolution of Bioluminescence in Marine Fishes

Cited by 91 publications

References 37 publications

Detecting the molecular basis of phenotypic convergence

Detecting the molecular basis of phenotypic convergence

Bioluminescent sexually selected traits as an engine for biodiversity across animal species

Localisation and origin of the bacteriochlorophyll-derived photosensitizer in the retina of the deep-sea dragon fish Malacosteus niger

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