Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Jupiter Life Science Initiative and Program in Neurogenetics, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida.
J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol. 2020 Nov;334(7-8):397-404. doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22978. Epub 2020 Jul 7.
A central question in biology is how naturally occurring genetic variation accounts for morphological and behavioral diversity within a species. The Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, has been studied for nearly a century as a model for investigating trait evolution. In March of 2019, researchers representing laboratories from around the world met at the Sixth Astyanax International Meeting in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico. The meeting highlighted the expanding applications of cavefish to investigations of diverse aspects of basic biology, including development, evolution, and disease-based applications. A broad range of integrative approaches are being applied in this system, including the application of state-of-the-art functional genetic assays, brain imaging, and genome sequencing. These advances position cavefish as a model organism for addressing fundamental questions about the genetics and evolution underlying the impressive trait diversity among individual populations within this species.
生物学中的一个核心问题是，自然界中的遗传变异如何解释物种内形态和行为的多样性。墨西哥脂鲤（Astyanax mexicanus）作为研究特征进化的模式生物，已经被研究了近一个世纪。2019 年 3 月，来自世界各地实验室的研究人员在墨西哥圣地亚哥-奎雷塔罗举行的第六届墨西哥脂鲤国际会议上相聚。会议强调了洞穴鱼在多方面基础生物学研究中的应用，包括发育、进化和以疾病为基础的应用。在这个系统中应用了广泛的综合方法，包括应用最先进的功能遗传检测、脑成像和基因组测序。这些进展使洞穴鱼成为研究该物种个体种群之间令人印象深刻的特征多样性背后遗传和进化基础的模式生物。
