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Pigment cell interactions and differential xanthophore recruitment underlying zebrafish stripe reiteration and Danio pattern evolution.

TitlePigment cell interactions and differential xanthophore recruitment underlying zebrafish stripe reiteration and Danio pattern evolution.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsPatterson LB, Bain EJ, Parichy DM
JournalNature communications
Volume5
Pagination5299
Date Published2014
ISSN2041-1723
Abstract

<p>Fishes have diverse pigment patterns, yet mechanisms of pattern evolution remain poorly understood. In zebrafish, Danio rerio, pigment-cell autonomous interactions generate dark stripes of melanophores that alternate with light interstripes of xanthophores and iridophores. Here, we identify mechanisms underlying the evolution of a uniform pattern in D. albolineatus in which all three pigment cell classes are intermingled. We show that in this species xanthophores differentiate precociously over a wider area, and that cis regulatory evolution has increased expression of xanthogenic Colony Stimulating Factor-1 (Csf1). Expressing Csf1 similarly in D. rerio has cascading effects, driving the intermingling of all three pigment cell classes and resulting in the loss of stripes, as in D. albolineatus. Our results identify novel mechanisms of pattern development and illustrate how pattern diversity can be generated when a core network of pigment-cell autonomous interactions is coupled with changes in pigment cell differentiation.</p>

DOI10.1038/ncomms6299
Alternate JournalNat Commun