Parallel evolution of facial stripe patterns in the Neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher species complex endemic to Lake Tanganyika.

Colour pattern diversity can be due to random processes or to natural or sexual selection. Consequently, similarities in colour patterns are not always correlated with common ancestry, but may result from convergent evolution under shared selection pressures or drift. Neolamprologus brichardi and Neolamprologus pulcher have been described as two distinct species based on differences in the arrangement of two dark bars on the operculum. Our study uses DNA sequences of the mitochondrial control region to show that relatedness of haplotypes disagrees with species assignment based on head colour pattern. This suggests repeated parallel evolution of particular stripe patterns. The complete lack of shared haplotypes between populations of the same or different phenotypes reflects strong philopatric behaviour, possibly induced by the cooperative breeding mode in which offspring remain in their natal territory and serve as helpers until they disperse to nearby territories or take over a breeding position. Concordant phylogeographic patterns between N. brichardi/N. pulcher populations and other rock-dwelling cichlids suggest that the same colonization routes have been taken by sympatric species and that these routes were affected by lake level fluctuations in the past

Brood mixing and reduced polyandry in a maternally mouthbrooding cichlid with elevated among-breeder relatedness

Uniparental maternal brood care often coincides with multiple paternity and single maternity of broods, possibly reflecting benefits of polyandry and costs of uniparental care. Genetic data from the maternally mouthbrooding cichlid fish Simochromis pleurospilus revealed the opposite pattern – low polyandry and allomaternal care. More than 70% of the investigated females had mated with a single male, and 14% of the females had unrelated fry in their broods. Broods with foreign fry were in the late stage of brood care, in which females guard free-swimming fry and recall the broods into their mouths for protection. With one exception, fostering females were related to their adopted fry at the level of first cousins (RQG>0.12), but relatedness between fosters and adopted fry was not significantly higher than between fosters and fry tended by other females. Relatedness among breeders extended to the level of first-order relatives. Mean relatedness among contemporaneously breeding dams (RQG=0.08) was significantly higher than among dams breeding in different seasons (RQG=-0.04), which suggests a temporal or spatial concentration of mouthbrooding relatives. Indeed, females sometimes brood in small groups. This behavior may reduce brood predation but will increase the risk of brood mixing, which is possibly mitigated by low costs of brood care and indirect benefits accrued by relatedness among the breeders in the group. Remarkably, the apparent inbreeding potential did not give rise to bet-hedging polyandry or active avoidance of relatives, as half of the mated individuals were related at RQG>0.13 and polyandry did not coincide with high within-pair relatedness

A parentage study of closely related ukrainian wine grape varieties using microsatellite markers

International audienceFour bred grapevine varieties released for commercial cultivation in Ukraine, namely ‘Antey Magarachs_ kii’, ‘Rubinovyi Magaracha’, ‘Granatovyi Magaracha’ and ‘Rubin Golodrigi’, and their putative parental forms were genotyped using six microsatellite loci. Genotypes were compared with breeding records to verify genetic rela_ tionships among varieties. Results of the analysis confirmed four of six parent_offspring relationships. Results of the analysis allow to assume that genotype ‘Seyve Villard 20347’ is the direct parent of ‘Antey Magarachskii’ instead of its grandparent. The first_studied accession believed to be that of ‘Granatovyi Magaracha’ was identified as impurity.In order to verify the parentage of ‘Granatovyi Magaracha’, rest accessions of that variety and its putative parent ‘Antey Magarachskii’ were additionally genotyped at 13 nuclear loci and at three chloroplast loci. The parent_off_ spring relationship was confirmed, as all ‘Granatovyi Magaracha’ accessions had a common allele with the parent variety ‘Antey Magarachskii’ at each locus and the same chlorotype A. Different ‘Granatovyi Magaracha’ accessions could have been obtained via vegetative propagation of two seedlings which arose from one crossing

Chloroplast microsatellites to investigate the origin of grapevine

The origin of the grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. (ssp.) sativa has been investigated with archaeobotanical–archaeological, cultural and historical data indicating a unique domestication centre located in the Caucasianand Middel-East regions about 6–7000 years ago, but, events leading to the domestication of thisspecies are still an open issue. In this work, eight universal chloroplast microsatellites are used to assessgenetic relationships among varieties selected as representatives of four distinct geographical groups fromMiddle-East to Western European regions. Results show that two out of the eight analysed chloroplast lociare polymorphic within the 142 individuals. Allele variants of the cpSSR loci combine in a total of sixdifferent haplotypes. The analysis of haplotypes distribution and haplotype diversity (HD) suggest that onlythree out of the six haplotypes are represented in the Caucasian and Middle-East samples, with 90% ofindividuals sharing the same haplotype. Moreover, the presence of all six haplotypes in the Europeanaccessions, with a high level of haplotype diversity, suggests varietal influx in these areas. Concerning theWestern European varieties, especially in Spanish accessions, half of the individuals share haplotype VIwhich is completely absent in the Caucasian and Middle-East cultivars. This result opens the discussionabout the existence of a unique and common domestication centre, located in the Caucasian and Middle-East area, for all the European cultivars.This work suggests the usefulness of chloroplast genome markers to provide information on haplotypedistributions that could help to identify further geographical areas for grapevine varietal evolution

Isolation of (AC)n-microsatellites in Vitis vinifera L. and analysis of genetic background in grapevines under marker assisted selection

Primers were developed for 118 microsatellites isolated from grape (Vitis vinifera) genomic libraries enriched for (AC)n repeats. Only one microsatellite sequence matched other grape SSR-sequences in the GeneBank database. Genotyping was carried out in the parental lines and four offspring of two pseudo-test-cross populations, 'Cabernet Sauvignon' x 'Seyval' and 'Chardonnay' x 'Bianca', and a further six other grape genotypes (V vinifera 'Sultanina', 'Merlot', 'Syrah', 'Muller-Thurgau', Vitis 'Regent' and V. riparia 'Gloire de Montpellier'). A total of 108 microsatellites showed easily scorable alleles and 100 of them segregated according to a configuration suitable for mapping in either cross. A further 8 SSRs, although unsuitable for mapping in those crosses, showed polymorphism in the other genotypes tested. This set of markers was used, along with 75 microsatellites of other repeat-types, to fingerprint 46 offspring of the cross 'Chardonnay' x 'Bianca'. For each full-sib, individual heterozygosity and distance in repeat units between pairs of alleles at each locus (mean d(2)) were calculated as a tool for predicting 'highly outbred' recombinant individuals. Six microsatellites with segregation ratios significantly distorted towards the lack of homozygous sibs were identified and mapped to linkage groups LG 3 and LG 5. Estimation of heterozygosity at genome-wide level and genotyping at loci for which homozygous sibs are discriminated against are discussed for marker-assisted background selection in outcrossing grapevines