CACAdmin
Aug 16th 2007, 11:58 AM
Cichlids Evolve Differently through Adaptation to Parasites
An international team of scientists which included Canadians (from Laval University) have discovered something that might explain why a pair of closely related species of East African cichlids (Pseudotropheus emmiltos and Pseudotropheus fainzilberi ) found in the same area of Lake Malawi evolved different immune gene adaptations. They believe this might which might explain why they do not interbreed.
It is known that in other vertebrates that the genes involved in mate selection by smell are also involved in the immune process. And so it is interesting that "recent mate choice experiments have shown that female P. emmiltos recognize males of their own species from P. fainzilberi males based on olfactory communication rather than color."
Read article: Adaptation To Parasites Drive African Fishes Along Different Evolutionary Paths (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815101856.htm)
An international team of scientists which included Canadians (from Laval University) have discovered something that might explain why a pair of closely related species of East African cichlids (Pseudotropheus emmiltos and Pseudotropheus fainzilberi ) found in the same area of Lake Malawi evolved different immune gene adaptations. They believe this might which might explain why they do not interbreed.
It is known that in other vertebrates that the genes involved in mate selection by smell are also involved in the immune process. And so it is interesting that "recent mate choice experiments have shown that female P. emmiltos recognize males of their own species from P. fainzilberi males based on olfactory communication rather than color."
Read article: Adaptation To Parasites Drive African Fishes Along Different Evolutionary Paths (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815101856.htm)