Nuclear markers reveal unexpected genetic variation and a Congolese-Nilotic origin of the Lake Victoria cichlid species flock

By Ole Seehausen, E. Koetsier, M. Schneider, L. Chapman, Colin A. Chapman, M. Knight, G. Turner, J. V. Alphen, R. Bills. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2003

163 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial (mt) DNA have indicated that the cichlid species flock of the Lake Victoria region is derived from a single ancestral species found in East African rivers, closely related to the ancestor of the Lake Malawi cichlid species flock. The Lake Victoria flock contains ten times less mtDNA variation than the Lake Malawi radiation, consistent with current estimates of the ages of the lakes. We present results of a phylogenetic investigation using nuclear (amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers and a wider coverage of riverine haplochromines. We demonstrate that the Lake Victoria–Edward flock is derived from the morphologically and ecologically diverse cichlid genus Thoracochromis from the Congo and Nile, rather than from the phenotypically conservative East African Astatotilapia. This implies that the ability to express much of the morphological diversity found in the species flock may by far pre–date the origin of the flock. Our data indicate that the nuclear diversity of the Lake Victoria–Edward species flock is similar to that of the Lake Malawi flock, indicating that the genetic diversity is considerably older than the 15 000 years that have passed since the lake began to refill. Most of this variation is manifested in trans–species polymorphisms, indicating very recent cladogenesis from a genetically very diverse founder stock. Our data do not confirm strict monophyly of either of the species flocks, but raise the possibility that these flocks have arisen from hybrid swarms.

Subfields: Aquatic Science, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1cd66dc6fe05fc42d976a58aa6c212b14c9777ca

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Citations in the corpus

Hybridization and phylogeography of the Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus in southern Africa evidenced by mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA genotyping (2006, background): “Moreover, the hybrid origin of Lake Victoria cichlids was detected by the use of nuclear markers (Seehausen et al. 2003), challenging the original view of monophyletic origin detected by mtDNA (e.g., Meyer et al. 1990).”
The incomplete natural history of mitochondria (2004, background): “…in the previous paragraph, subsequent work with either microsatellite or amplified fragment length polymorphism markers has shown that the sympatric species are not the closest relatives of each other [cichlids (Seehausen et al. 2003), stickleback (Taylor & McPhail 2000), crickets (Shaw 2002)].”
Adaptive, pre-adaptive and non-adaptive components of radiations in ancient lakes: a review (2004, background): “Genetic evidence for hybridization in cichlid species from various East African lakes has been provided (Nagl et al. 2000; R .uber et al. 2001; Takahashi et al. 2001a, b; Smith and Kornfield 2002; Salzburger et al. 2002b; Baric et al. 2003; Seehausen et al. 2003).”
The late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and the origin of its endemic biota (2007, background): “This is consistent with their extremely low mtDNA variation relative to that of the older flock in Lake Malawi (Seehausen et al., 2003).”
Ancient hybridization fuels rapid cichlid fish adaptive radiations (2017, unknown): “Some of these traits are also divergent between the Congolese Astatotilapia and Upper Nile Thoracochromis species 37,42 .”
African cichlid fish: a model system in adaptive radiation research (2006, background): “Mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA) genealogies suggest mono- or paraphyly for most lake faunas (e.g. the Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria radiations; Meyer 1993; Nagl et al. 2000; Seehausen et al. 2003; Verheyen et al. Proc.”
Direct male-male competition can facilitate invasion of new colour types in Lake Victoria cichlids (2005, background): “…Victoria’s flock of endemic haplochromine cichlid fishes is among the most rapidly speciating groups of vertebrates (Johnson et al. 1996; Seehausen 2002), and is considered an outstanding example of explosive evolution and adaptive radiation (Greenwood 1981; Kaufman 1997; Seehausen et al. 2003).”