Agouti-related peptide 2 facilitates convergent evolution of stripe patterns across cichlid fish radiations
Open accessAbstract
Showing their stripes: The adaptive radiation of East African cichlids has led to more than 1200 species across a number of lakes. Across these species, many convergent traits have emerged, including the presence or absence of horizontal stripes. Kratochwil et al. show that the appearance or loss of stripes is related to changes in the agouti-related peptide 2 gene, which acts as a kind of on-off switch for stripe generation (see the Perspective by Gante). This action has enabled rapid and repeated evolution of stripes across this speciose radiation. Science , this issue p. 457 ; see also p. 396
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Roles for asip2b have been found in cichlid stripe patterning and fin leucophores of Danio rerio.
“Roles for asip2b have been found in cichlid stripe patterning52 as well as fin leucophores of Danio rerio53.”
From Genomic and genetic insights into speciation and pigment pattern diversification in <i>Danio</i> fishes (2025) · cites this paper as [52]
Citation 52 attaches to the cichlid stripe-patterning claim, not the separate claim about Danio rerio fin leucophores. The paper identifies agouti-related peptide 2 (agrp2), not asip2b, as the gene controlling cichlid stripes; its main text also distinguishes agrp2 from its paralogs (section S; page not provided). (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Cites
MAFFT Multiple Sequence Alignment Software Version 7: Improvements in Performance and Usability
Katoh, K., & Standley, D. M. (2013) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/mst010 · Cited by 46,209 · see citing works
BEAST 2: a software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis
Bouckaert, R., Heled, J., Kühnert, D., Vaughan, T., Wu, C.-H., Xie, D., Suchard, M. A., Rambaut, A., & Drummond, A. J. (2014) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003537 · Cited by 6,527 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 3
- J. B. Losos, Improbable Destinies (Penguin, 2017).
- C. Zhang et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 20164-20171 (2010).
- A. Mazo-Vargas et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114, 10701-10706 (2017).
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Huang, D., Kapadia, E. H., Liang, Y., Shriver, L. P., Dai, S., Patti, G. J., Humbel, B. M., Laudet, V., & Parichy, D. M. (2025) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2424180122 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Self-citationLu, J., Podobnik, M., Huang, J., McCluskey, B. M., McCarthy, S. A., Wood, J., Collins, J., Torrance, J., Sims, Y., Gao, D., et al. (2025) · doi:10.1101/2025.10.17.682988 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kratochwil, C. F., Liang, Y., Gerwin, J., Woltering, J. M., Urban, S., Henning, F., Machado-Schiaffino, G., Hulsey, C. D., & Meyer, A.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
- Corresponding author
- Kratochwil, Claudius F.
- Meyer, Axel
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2018-10-26
- Volume
- 362
- Issue
- 6413
- Pages
- 457-460
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2898275055
- Cited by
- 157
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 9.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nbn-resolving.de
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KOPS (University of Konstanz) (submittedVersion)
- Consultation of the Doctoral Thesis Database (TESEO) (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Research Council (“GenAdap” #293700)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (P2BSP3_148629)
- China Scholarship Council (NA)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KR 4670/2-1)
- EU FP7 Marie Curie Zukunftskolleg Incoming Fellowship Program (291784)
- Elite Program for Postdocs of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation (NA)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- convergent evolution, stripe patterns, cichlid fish, adaptive radiation, East African cichlids, color pattern evolution
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Chromosome Mapping, Biological Evolution, Mutation, Skin Pigmentation, Cichlids, Agouti-Related Protein, Gene Knockout Techniques, Genetic Loci, CRISPR-Cas Systems
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