PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, March 27 Biologists from the Vitus Bering Kamchatka State University raised an endemic form of loaches in the laboratory to study their DNA and the regulation of development, the press service reported educational institution.
“”Staff of the Laboratory of Anthropogenic Dynamics of Ecosystems of Vitus Bering KamSU are studying the genetic processes and molecular regulators of development responsible for the evolutionary adaptations of fish during the development of different ecological niches in lakes. As part of a joint study with the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, fry of the endemic char of Kronotsky Lake were raised in the laboratory,” – the message says.
In particular, biologists will have to figure out which genes work to form the head and mouth of rare fish. For this purpose, embryos of six forms of loaches and the ancestral Dolly Varden, living in Lake Kronotskoe, were obtained. The fish were hatched in the laboratory, and when they were switched to external feeding, samples of connective tissue were obtained from them for the isolation and analysis of RNA and DNA.
According to the first results, it was found that the process of development of specific head characteristics is triggered and controlled both at the level of changes in protein properties due to multiple point mutations in genes, and due to changes in the intensity of expression of different genes.
“After isolation in Lake Kronotskoe 12 thousand years ago, the Dolly Varden char began to develop new food resources, and as a result, divided into several ecological forms. These forms differ in the proportions of the head, the size and position of the mouth, which allows them to feed most efficiently on a certain type of food. In As part of this project, we are trying to find those molecular genetic selection mechanisms that ensured the formation of the specific morphology of endemic loaches,” said Daria Panicheva, head of the laboratory.
Kronotskoye Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Kamchatka by area, located on the territory of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. By its origin, it is a dammed reservoir formed as a result of the blocking of the ancient bed of the Paleokronotskaya River with thick lava and pyroclastic deposits from the eruptions of the Kronotsky and Krasheninnikov volcanoes.
A population of kokanee (a residential form of sockeye salmon) numbering about 30 million individuals has formed in the lake, which arose from the migratory sockeye salmon as a result of its long-term isolation. For the same reason, an isolated endemic group of char consisting of eight different species has formed in the lake.
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