Inheritance patterns of lateral dimorphism examined through breeding experiments in Tanganyikan cichlid (Julidochromis transcriptus) and Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes).

The asymmetry of mouth morphology, in which the mouth opens either leftward or rightward, is a unique example of antisymmetry that is widely found in fishes, such as Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids, herbivorous cichlids, and the Japanese freshwater goby. This dimorphism is thought to be heritable in a Mendelian manner similar to that of the dominance of the lefty allele over righty, with homozygotes of lefty alleles being absent. This study aims to reveal whether this trait is inherited in the same Mendelian manner in fishes other than those examined to date, and whether the absence of the dominant homozygote is due to a lethal effect. We conducted F(1) and F(2) breeding experiments using the Tanganyikan cichlid Julidochromis transcriptus and Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes. For both J. transcriptus and O. latipes, the F(1) generations produced by incrossing lefty parents showed a lefty:righty ratio of 2:1, whereas incrosses of righties produced only righty offspring. Test crosses between lefty and righty produced a 1:1 ratio of lefty and righty offspring. These results are consistent with the inheritance model in which righty is homozygous for a recessive righty allele and lefty is heterozygous for dominant lefty and recessive righty alleles, in agreement with previous observations. The F(2) test cross also confirmed this pattern. Furthermore, no lethal effects on hatchability of O. latipes were detected, refuting the suggestion that the dominant homozygote is embryonic lethal. We conclude that mouth laterality is inherited in the same Mendelian manner in these two species, similar to that other fish species studied previously. However, the reason for absence of the dominant homozygote remains unclear.