ArticleMolecular ecology2022
Molecular evolution and depth-related adaptations of rhodopsin in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika.
Article in Molecular ecology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decision rules diverge between sympatric Featherfin cichlids despite shared preferences, ecology, and evolutionary history.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Genomic and regulatory basis of visual opsin genes in the cleaner wrasse behavior: features, expression, and enhancer mechanisms.Molecular biology reports · 2026Article
- Speciation across depth gradients in reef corals.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Seeing in the Deep: Evolution of the Opsin Gene Expression in Bermin Crater Lake Cichlids.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Rapid Divergence of Visual Systems and Signaling Traits to Contrasting Light Regimes During Early Speciation of African Crater Lake Cichlid Fish.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Widespread Genetic Signals of Visual System Adaptation in Deepwater Cichlid Fishes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Multiple Pathways of Visual Adaptations for Water Column Usage in an Antarctic Adaptive Radiation.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Visual pigment chromophore usage in Nicaraguan Midas cichlids: phenotypic plasticity and genetic assimilation ofHydrobiologia · 2025Article
- Influence of ambient water coloration on habitat and conspecific choice in the female Lake Malawi cichlid,Current zoology · 2024Article
- Adaptive Evolution of Nearctic Deepwater Fish Vision: Implications for Assessing Functional Variation for Conservation.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- African cichlid fishes: morphological data and taxonomic insights from a genus-level survey of supraneurals, pterygiophores, and vertebral counts (Ovalentaria, Blenniiformes, Cichlidae, Pseudocrenilabrinae).Biodiversity data journal · 2024Article
- Visual opsin gene expression evolution in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika.Science advances · 2023Article
- East African cichlid fishes.EvoDevo · 2023Review
- The evolutionary history and spectral tuning of vertebrate visual opsins.Developmental biology · 2023Review
- Developmental changes of opsin gene expression in ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii).Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Molecular evolution and depth-related adaptations of rhodopsin in the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The visual sensory system is essential for animals to perceive their environment and is thus under strong selection. In aquatic environments, light intensity and spectrum differ primarily along a depth gradient. Rhodopsin (RH1) is the only opsin responsible for dim-light vision in vertebrates and has been shown to evolve in response to the respective light conditions, including along a water depth gradient in fishes. In this study, we examined the diversity and sequence evolution of RH1 in virtually the entire adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika, focusing on adaptations to the environmental light with respect to depth. We show that Tanganyikan cichlid genomes contain a single copy of RH1. The 76 variable amino acid sites detected in RH1 across the radiation were not uniformly distributed along the protein sequence, and 31 of these variable sites show signals of positive selection. Moreover, the amino acid substitutions at 15 positively selected sites appeared to be depth-related, including three key tuning sites that directly mediate shifts in the peak spectral sensitivity, one site involved in protein stability and 11 sites that may be functionally important on the basis of their physicochemical properties. Among the strongest candidate sites for deep-water adaptations are two known key tuning sites (positions 292 and 299) and three newly identified variable sites (37, 104 and 290). Our study, which is the first comprehensive analysis of RH1 evolution in a massive adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes, provides novel insights into the evolution of RH1 in a freshwater environment.
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