Miguel Vasconcelos Almeida, Moritz Blumer, Chengwei Ulrika Yuan, Pío Sierra, Jonathan L Price, Fu Xiang Quah, Aleksandr Friman, Alexandra Dallaire, Grégoire Vernaz, Audrey L K Putman, Alan M Smith, Domino A Joyce, Falk Butter, Astrid D Haase, Richard Durbin, M Emília Santos, Eric A Miska
East African cichlid fishes have diversified in an explosive fashion, but the (epi)genetic basis of the phenotypic diversity of these fishes remains largely unknown. Although transposable elements (TEs) have been associated with phenotypic variation in cichlids, little is known about their transcriptional activity and epigenetic silencing. Here, we describe dynamic patterns of TE expression in African cichlid gonads and during early development. Orthology inference revealed an expansion of piwil1 genes in Lake Malawi cichlids, likely driven by PiggyBac TEs...
April 1, 2024: bioRxiv