Abstract
Simple SummaryMudskippers are an interesting group of goggle-eyed amphibious fish that can live both in water and on land. They are a useful model for obtaining insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying the terrestrial adaptations of amphibious fish. This review summarizes the morphological and physiological modifications of representative mudskippers, and focuses on the recent advancement of genomic studies on their genetic adaptations to the amphibious lifestyle.Mudskippers are the largest group of amphibious teleost fish that are uniquely adapted to live on mudflats. During their successful transition from aqueous life to terrestrial living, these fish have evolved morphological and physiological modifications of aerial vision and olfaction, higher ammonia tolerance, aerial respiration, improved immunological defense against terrestrial pathogens, and terrestrial locomotion using protruded pectoral fins. Comparative genomic and transcriptomic data have been accumulated and analyzed for understanding molecular mechanisms of the terrestrial adaptations. Our current review provides a general introduction to mudskippers and recent research advances of their genetic adaptations to the amphibious lifestyle, which will be helpful for understanding the evolutionary transition of vertebrates from water to land. Our insights into the genomes and transcriptomes will also support molecular breeding, functional identification, and natural compound screening.
Highlights
Amphibious fish spend periods of time out of water, in or above the ground surface, as normal parts of their life histories [1]
We provided molecular evidence for mudskippers’ adoption of partial amino acid catabolism to decrease the production of endogenous ammonia under high environmental ammonia loading [20]
These duplicated toll-like receptor 13 (TLR13) and other immune-domain-containing genes may provide these amphibious fish with special immune defense, so that the mudskippers can copy with the terrestrial pathogenic microorganisms in variable conditions
Summary
Amphibious fish spend periods of time out of water, in or above the ground surface, as normal parts of their life histories [1]. Mudskippers (Figure 1) are a major group of amphibious fish with an enormous potential for theoretical research into critical adaptations to facilitate the evolution from an aqueous to a terrestrial lifestyle They are divided into four main genera, including Boleophthalmus, Periophthalmodon, Periophthalmus, and Scartelaos [2]. Boleophthalmus pectinirostris (BP) are predominantly water-dwelling, whereas Periophthalmodon schlosseri schlosseri (PS) and Periophthalmus magnuspinnatus (PM) spend extended periods of time on land. Objective of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of genetic adaptations longer period to theThe amphibious lifestyle mudskippers, as aerial vision andknowledge olfaction modifications, ammonia main objective of of this review is to such summarize the current of genetic adaptations tolerance mechanisms, terrestrial locomotion, immunological difference, and air exposure response. To the amphibious lifestyle of mudskippers, such as aerial vision and olfaction modifications, ammonia tolerance mechanisms, terrestrial locomotion, immunological difference, and air exposure response
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