CELLULAR, MOLECULAR, GENOMICS, AND BIOMEDICAL APPROACHES | Evolution of Fish Genomes

Teleost fish genomes display remarkable features, possibly linked to the impressive biodiversity observed in these animals. An event of genome duplication has taken place in the ray-finned fish lineage before teleost radiation. From this event, thousands of genes have been kept as duplicates, with frequent divergent evolution in different teleost sublineages. Teleost genomes also contain many families of active transposable elements. Finally, new sex chromosomes have frequently appeared during teleost fish evolution. Differential evolution of gene duplicates, activity of transposable elements, and the formation of new sex chromosomes are likely to be major processes driving biodiversity and speciation in teleost fish.