Genomics of Hybridization and Species Delimitation in Cichlid Fishes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Axel Meyer, since 2/2021
• Subject Area: Systematics and Morphology (Zoology)
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447185000

Hybridization provides insight into which genomic regions maintain species integrity, and these regions might therefore be crucial for correct taxonomic diagnoses. We will complete four experimental hybrid crosses in cichlid fishes and plan to collect Rad-seq date to genotype thousands of genome-wide markers. Wild-caught collections of hybrid individuals from these species pairs also show genome-wide patterns of differential introgression. Excellent reference genomes will facilitate precise genomic mapping of markers from these and the experimental crosses to find which markers and genomic regions deviate from neutral patterns of introgression. We will synthesize these empirical patterns of introgression-resistant loci from three evolutionarily distinct radiations in Africa and Central America and extend our developed criteria and benchmarks to DNA pull-down techniques specifically adapted to undescribed, poor-quality museum specimens. Concentrating on these repeatedly hybridizing groups, comparisons of delimitation methods that contrast the information content and efficacy of markers from introgression-resistant genomic regions and incorporating hybrid individuals will be used to develop a general framework for robustly taxonomically diagnosing a number of undescribed species.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1991: Taxon-Omics: New approaches for discovering and naming biodiversity
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. C. Darrin Hulsey, until 2/2021