Abstract
Mandarin fishes (Sinipercidae) are piscivores that feed solely on live fry. Unlike higher vertebrates, teleosts exhibit feeding behavior driven mainly by genetic responses, with no modification by learning from parents. Mandarin fishes could serve as excellent model organisms for studying feeding behavior. We report a long-read, chromosomal-scale genome assembly for Siniperca chuatsi and genome assemblies for Siniperca kneri, Siniperca scherzeri and Coreoperca whiteheadi. Positive selection analysis revealed rapid adaptive evolution of genes related to predatory feeding/aggression, growth, pyloric caeca and euryhalinity. Very few gill rakers are observed in mandarin fishes; analogously, we found that zebrafish deficient in edar had a gill raker loss phenotype and a more predatory habit, with reduced intake of zooplankton but increased intake of prey fish. Higher expression of bmp4, which could inhibit edar expression and gill raker development through binding of a Xvent-1 site upstream of edar, may cause predatory feeding in Siniperca.
Highlights
Mandarin fishes (Sinipercidae) are piscivores that feed solely on live fry
The four species in the Sinipercidae family, Siniperca chuatsi, Siniperca kneri, Siniperca scherzeri, and Coreoperca whiteheadi, which are widely distributed in China, exhibit significant differences in biology
We were able to construct 96.7% of the assembled contig sequence length into 24 chromosomes using only a linkage map based on restriction siteassociated DNA sequencing (RADseq)
Summary
Mandarin fishes (Sinipercidae) are piscivores that feed solely on live fry. Unlike higher vertebrates, teleosts exhibit feeding behavior driven mainly by genetic responses, with no modification by learning from parents. Little is known about the molecular genetic factors that underlie predatory feeding and species-specific feeding habits In higher vertebrates, such as mammals, the responses of primary centers are coordinated by correlation centers, and the cerebrum is the central region for memory. Genetic factors have a decisive role in shaping fish feeding behaviors This differs from the process in mammals and birds, where learning of feeding habits is determined by the parents. In fish, in contrast to mammals, the study of predatory feeding behavior from first feeding could enable us to learn much more about the direct effects of genes and genetic factors on feeding habits at a large scale. Genomic resources have not been established for Sinipercidae, and their species-specific adaptive evolution regarding predatory feeding, growth performance, pyloric cecum development and euryhalinity tolerance are poorly understood.
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