ArticleNature communications2021
The cichlid oral and pharyngeal jaws are evolutionarily and genetically coupled.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- The jaws in the jaws: Morphofunctional analysis of the pharyngeal plates of Labrus viridis Linnaeus, 1758 (Teleostei, Labridae).Journal of fish biology · 2026Article
- Functional morphology of the pharyngeal teeth of the ocean sunfish, Mola mola.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Correlated evolution of core skin structures in freshwater fishes and challenges to epidermal club cells as the material basis of alarm responses.Frontiers in zoology · 2026Article
- Ancestral splice variation is a key substrate for rapid diversification in African cichlids.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Craniofacial-specific transcriptomics uncovers novel genes underlying jaw divergence in dietary specialist pupfishes.Genetics · 2025Article
- An alternative pattern of head expansion during feeding in cichlids.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Developmental and Functional Interactions Structure Patterns of Variational Modularity in the Lunar Wrasse Skull.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Article
- A classic key innovation constrains oral jaw functional diversification in fishes.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Biomechanical Specialization Acts as an Asymmetrical Constraint on the Phenotype.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Uncovering developmental diversity in the field.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- A whole-body micro-CT scan library that captures the skeletal diversity of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Meristic co-evolution and genomic co-localization of lateral line scales and vertebrae in Central American cichlid fishes.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Foraging-induced craniofacial plasticity is associated with an early, robust and dynamic transcriptional response.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Four-bar Geometry is Shared among Ecologically DivergentFish Species.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Variable Craniofacial Shape and Development among Multiple Cave-Adapted Populations ofIntegrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Developmental bias as a cause and consequence of adaptive radiation and divergence.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
- The evolution and genetic basis of a functionally critical skull bone, the parasphenoid, among Lake Malawi cichlids.Evolutionary journal of the Linnean Society · 2024Article
- Surfperches versus Damselfishes: Trophic Evolution in Closely Related Pharyngognath Fishes with Highly Divergent Reproductive Strategies.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Genome editing in East African cichlids and tilapias: state-of-the-art and future directions.Open biology · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Evolutionary constraints may significantly bias phenotypic change, while "breaking" from such constraints can lead to expanded ecological opportunity. Ray-finned fishes have broken functional constraints by developing two jaws (oral-pharyngeal), decoupling prey capture (oral jaw) from processing (pharyngeal jaw). It is hypothesized that the oral and pharyngeal jaws represent independent evolutionary modules and this facilitated diversification in feeding architectures. Here we test this hypothesis in African cichlids. Contrary to our expectation, we find integration between jaws at multiple evolutionary levels. Next, we document integration at the genetic level, and identify a candidate gene, smad7, within a pleiotropic locus for oral and pharyngeal jaw shape that exhibits correlated expression between the two tissues. Collectively, our data show that African cichlid evolutionary success has occurred within the context of a coupled jaw system, an attribute that may be driving adaptive evolution in this iconic group by facilitating rapid shifts between foraging habitats, providing an advantage in a stochastic environment such as the East African Rift-Valley.
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