Data from: Agouti-related peptide 2 facilitates convergent evolution of stripe patterns across cichlid fish radiations

The color patterns of African cichlid fishes provide notable examples of
phenotypic convergence. Across the more than 1200 East African rift lake
species, melanic horizontal stripes have evolved numerous times. We
discovered that regulatory changes of the gene agouti-related peptide 2
(agrp2) act as molecular switches controlling this evolutionarily labile
phenotype. Reduced agrp2 expression is convergently associated with the
presence of stripe patterns across species flocks. However, cis-regulatory
mutations are not predictive of stripes across radiations, suggesting
independent regulatory mechanisms. Genetic mapping confirms the link
between the agrp2 locus and stripe patterns. The crucial role of agrp2 is
further supported by a CRISPR-Cas9 knockout that reconstitutes stripes in
a nonstriped cichlid. Thus, we unveil how a single gene affects the
convergent evolution of a complex color pattern.