Biology subjects

Zapfe, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Zapfe, K..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Reproductive innovation enabled radiation in the deep sea during an ecological crisis

Major ecological transitions are thought to fuel evolutionary radiations, but whether they are contingent on the evolution of certain traits is unclear. We show that the rapid ecological transition of anglerfishes into pelagic habitats during a period of major global warming coincided with the origins of sexual parasitism, in which male anglerfishes temporarily attach or permanently fuse to females to mate. A phylogenomic reconstruction of the evolutionary history of anglerfishes provides a strong inference for the convergent evolution of permanently-fusing deep-sea anglerfishes and their degenerate immune genes. Our results support that sexual parasitism was enabled by the degeneration of adaptive immunity and ancestral sexual size dimorphism. The combination of these traits facilitated the transition of pelagic anglerfishes into novel ecologies available in the deep open oceans after evolving from benthic ancestors. These results show how seemingly unrelated physiological and reproductive traits interact synergistically to drive evolutionary radiation in novel environments.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Considering decoupled phenotypic diversification between ontogenetic phases in macroevolution: An example using Triggerfishes (Balistidae)

Across the Tree of Life, most studies of phenotypic disparity and diversification have been restricted to adult organisms. However, many lineages have distinct ontogenetic phases that do not reflect the same traits as their adult forms. Non-adult disparity patterns are particularly important to consider for coastal ray-finned fishes, which often have juvenile phases with distinct phenotypes. These juvenile forms are often associated with sheltered nursery environments, with phenotypic shifts between adults and juvenile stages that are readily apparent in locomotor morphology. However, whether this ontogenetic variation in locomotor morphology reflects a decoupling of diversification dynamics between life stages remains unknown. Here we investigate the evolutionary dynamics of locomotor morphology between adult and juvenile triggerfishes. Integrating a time-calibrated phylogenetic framework with geometric morphometric approaches and measurement data of fin aspect ratio and incidence, we reveal a mismatch between morphospace occupancy, the evolution of morphological disparity, and the tempo of trait evolution between life stages. Collectively, our results illuminate how the heterogeneity of morpho-functional adaptations can decouple the mode and tempo of morphological diversification between ontogenetic stages.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Holosteans contextualize the role of the teleost genome duplication in promoting the rise of evolutionary novelties in the ray-finned fish innate immune system

Over 99% of ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii) are teleosts, a clade that comprises half of all living vertebrates that have diversified across virtually all fresh and saltwater ecosystems. This ecological diversity raises the question of how the immunogenetic diversity required to persist under heterogeneous pathogen pressures evolved. The teleost genome duplication (TGD) has been hypothesized as the evolutionary event that provided the genomic substrate for rapid genomic evolution and innovation. However, studies of putative teleost-specific innate immune receptors have been largely limited to comparisons either among teleosts or between teleosts and distantly related vertebrate clades such as tetrapods. Here we describe and characterize the receptor diversity of two clustered innate immune gene families in the teleost sister lineage: Holostei (bowfin and gars). Using genomic and transcriptomic data, we provide a detailed investigation of the phylogenetic history and conserved synteny of gene clusters encoding diverse immunoglobulin domain-containing proteins (DICPs) and novel immune-type receptors (NITRs). These data demonstrate an ancient linkage of DICPs to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and reveal an evolutionary origin of NITR variable-joining (VJ) exons that predate the TGD by at least 50 million years. Further characterizing the receptor diversity of Holostean DICPs and NITRs illuminates a sequence diversity that rivals the diversity of these innate immune receptor families in many teleosts. Taken together, our findings provide important historical context for the evolution of these gene families that challenge prevailing expectations concerning the consequences of the TGD during actinopterygiian evolution.

immunology↗