Molecular basis of lip hypertrophy in East African Cichlids

Cichlid fishes inhabiting the East African Great Lakes Victoria, Malawi, and Tanganyika, are a textbook example of parallel evolution, as they have acquired similar traits independently in each three Lakes during the process of adaptive radiation. In particular, hypertrophied lip has been highlighted as a prominent example of parallel evolution. However, its underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we conducted transcriptome comparisons between the hypertrophied and normal lips of cichlids across the three Lakes. We evaluated the difference of gene expression patterns among hypertrophied and normal lips of cichlids in the East African Great Lakes, Victoria, Malawi and Tanganyika.