Differential timing of gene expression regulation between leptocephali of the two Anguilla eel species in the Sargasso Sea

Bernatchez, Louis, St-Cyr, Jérôme, Normandeau, Eric, Maes, Gregory E., Als, Thomas D., Kalujnaia, Svetlana, Cramb, Gordon, Castonguay, Martin, and Hansen, Michael M. (2011) Differential timing of gene expression regulation between leptocephali of the two Anguilla eel species in the Sargasso Sea. Ecology and Evolution, 1 (4). pp. 459-467.

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DOI: 10.1002/ece3.27

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.27

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Abstract

The unique life-history characteristics of North Atlantic catadromous eels have long intrigued evolutionary biologists, especially with respect to mechanisms that could explain their persistence as two ecologically very similar but reproductively and geographically distinct species. Differential developmental schedules during young larval stages have commonly been hypothesized to represent such a key mechanism. We performed a comparative analysis of gene expression by means of microarray experiments with American and European eel leptocephali collected in the Sargasso Sea in order to test the alternative hypotheses of (1) differential timing of gene expression regulation during early development versus (2) species-specific differences in expression of particular genes. Our results provide much stronger support for the former hypothesis since no gene showed consistent significant differences in expression levels between the two species. In contrast, 146 genes showed differential timings of expression between species, although the observed expression level differences between the species were generally small. Consequently, species-specific gene expression regulation seems to play a minor role in species differentiation. Overall, these results show that the basis of the early developmental divergence between the American and European eel is probably influenced by differences in the timing of gene expression regulation for genes involved in a large array of biological functions.


Item ID:	30018
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2045-7758
Keywords:	Anguilla, microarray, reproductive isolation, speciation, transcriptome
Additional Information:	© 2011 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2013 10:27
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0604 Genetics > 060405 Gene Expression (incl Microarray and other genome-wide approaches) @ 50% 07 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES > 0704 Fisheries Sciences > 070405 Fish Physiology and Genetics @ 50%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960305 Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 50%
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