Genomforschung und die Entstehung von Arten im Meer

• Antragsteller: Professor Oscar Puebla, Ph.D.
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Evolutionäre Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie der Tiere ; Allgemeine Genetik und funktionelle Genomforschung ; Evolution, Anthropologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2015 bis 2026
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 277213305

• Erstellungsjahr: 2024

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

In this project we shed light on the genomic bases of diversification of the hamlets, a group of brightly coloured reef fishes from the Greater Caribbean that represents one of the fastest evolutionary radiation on Earth. We assembled a reference genome for the group, at a time when this was still a challenge for non-model species, and re-sequenced more than 300 genomes from all described species. Our results show that although these fishes present clear differences in colour pattern and are reproductively isolated through strong assortative mating, they are nonetheless extremely similar genetically throughout most of the genome, except for a few narrow genomic regions that underlie functional divergence among species (essentially colour pattern and mate choice). For this we notably teamed up with a marine engineer and an image analysis specialist. Together we developed a portable underwater photo studio to take standardized images of live fishes in situ and a method to analyse the images in a fully standardized and automated way. This allowed us to detect associations between colour pattern variation and genetic variation with pixel and DNA base pair resolution, respectively. The results of our research were published in high-profile scientific journals such as Nature Ecology and Evolution or Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, as well as solid disciplinary journals such as Molecular Ecology. And more are to come (submitted or in preparation). Furthermore, we conducted a number of opportunistic side-projects related to the project but that go beyond what was specifically proposed. We notably re-described one overlooked species and are in the process of describing a new species from the Gulf of Mexico. We also took a conservation genetics approach to study the rare endemic Maya hamlet in Belize, whose conservation status was changed from Vulnerable to Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the basis of our study. In addition, we investigated the differences in chromosomal recombination between egg and sperm cells in simultaneous hermaphrodites, temporal variation in reef fish communities, and aggressive mimicry as a potential source of natural selection on colour pattern. Finally, we leveraged the fact that most of the DNA sequencing was done from gill tissue samples to conduct a largescale metagenomic analysis of the gill microbiome. This allowed us to assemble 67 microbial genomes, most of which belong to new species and one of which could not be assigned to any known microbial family.

Link zum Abschlussbericht

https://doi.org/10.21244/zmt.2026.001

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

• Recombination in the eggs and sperm in a simultaneously hermaphroditic vertebrate. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283(1844), 20161821.
  Theodosiou, L.; McMillan, W. O. & Puebla, O.
  
• Temporal changes in hamlet communities (Hypoplectrus spp., Serranidae) over 17 years. Journal of Fish Biology, 91(5), 1475-1490.
  Hench, K.; Mcmillan, W. O.; Betancur‐R., R. & Puebla, O.
  
• Social-trap or mimicry? An empirical evaluation of the Hypoplectrus unicolor–Chaetodon capistratus association in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Coral Reefs, 37(4), 1127-1137.
  Puebla, Oscar; Picq, Sophie; Lesser, Justin S. & Moran, Benjamin
  
• Inter-chromosomal coupling between vision and pigmentation genes during genomic divergence. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(4), 657-667.
  Hench, Kosmas; Vargas, Marta; Höppner, Marc P.; McMillan, W. Owen & Puebla, Oscar
  
• The evolution of microendemism in a reef fish (Hypoplectrus maya). Molecular Ecology, 28(11), 2872-2885.
  Moran, Benjamin M.; Hench, Kosmas; Waples, Robin S.; Höppner, Marc P.; Baldwin, Carole C.; McMillan, William Owen & Puebla, Oscar
  
• A review of 263 years of taxonomic research on Hypoplectrus (Perciformes: Serranidae), with a redescription of Hypoplectrus affinis (Poey, 1861). Zootaxa, 5093(2), 101-141.
  PUEBLA, OSCAR; COULMANCE, FLORIANE; ESTAPÉ, CARLOS J.; ESTAPÉ, ALLISON MORGAN & ROBERTSON, D. ROSS
  
• Rapid radiation in a highly diverse marine environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(4).
  Hench, Kosmas; Helmkampf, Martin; McMillan, W. Owen & Puebla, Oscar
  
• Phenotypic and genomic dissection of colour pattern variation in a reef fish radiation. Molecular Ecology, 33(4).
  Coulmance, Floriane; Akkaynak, Derya; Le Poul, Yann; Höppner, Marc P.; McMillan, W. Owen & Puebla, Oscar