Skip to main content

Tol2 transposon-mediated transgenesis in the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) — towards understanding gene function and regulatory evolution in an ecological model system for rapid phenotypic diversification

Abstract

Background

The Midas cichlid species complex (Amphilophus spp.) is widely known among evolutionary biologists as a model system for sympatric speciation and adaptive phenotypic divergence within extremely short periods of time (a few hundred generations). The repeated parallel evolution of adaptive phenotypes in this radiation, combined with their near genetic identity, makes them an excellent model for studying phenotypic diversification. While many ecological and evolutionary studies have been performed on Midas cichlids, the molecular basis of specific phenotypes, particularly adaptations, and their underlying coding and cis-regulatory changes have not yet been studied thoroughly.

Results

For the first time in any New World cichlid, we use Tol2 transposon-mediated transgenesis in the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus). By adapting existing microinjection protocols, we established an effective protocol for transgenesis in Midas cichlids. Embryos were injected with a Tol2 plasmid construct that drives enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) expression under the control of the ubiquitin promoter. The transgene was successfully integrated into the germline, driving strong ubiquitous expression of eGFP in the first transgenic Midas cichlid line. Additionally, we show transient expression of two further transgenic constructs, ubiquitin::tdTomato and mitfa::eGFP. Transgenesis in Midas cichlids will facilitate further investigation of the genetic basis of species-specific traits, many of which are adaptations.

Conclusion

Transgenesis is a versatile tool not only for studying regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers, but also for testing gene function through overexpression of allelic gene variants. As such, it is an important first step in establishing the Midas cichlid as a powerful model for studying adaptive coding and non-coding changes in an ecological and evolutionary context.

Background

Cichlid fishes are a textbook example for phenotypic diversity and rapid rates of speciation [1]. They are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates with over 2000 described species [2]. Biologists have long been fascinated by these teleosts and numerous studies have been conducted on aspects of cichlid biology such as their strikingly diverse color patterns [3, 4], morphologies [5, 6] and behaviors [7, 8]. Newly-available genomic resources in combination with Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and molecular studies allow cichlid scientists to study the exact genetic mechanistic underpinnings of ecologically relevant traits [9, 10]. Hence, techniques from ‘model teleosts’, such as medaka (Oryzias latipes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) [11] have to be adapted to functionally validate and analyze genotype-phenotype relationships in these new species. Molecular tools, in particular transgenesis, are effective for testing gene function and activity of cis-regulatory elements. In recent years, transgenesis technology has increasingly been applied to non-model organisms, especially driven by the use of the Tol2 transposon-mediated insertion technology that strongly increases the insertion efficiency of recombinant DNA [11]. This expands this powerful toolset to organisms of evolutionary and ecological interest including sticklebacks [12], African cichlids [13] and killifish [14]. Here, we have successfully adapted and optimized Tol2-mediated transgenesis for the first time in a cichlid from the New World, the Midas cichlid species complex, Amphilophus spp.

One of the central aims of evolutionary biology is to understand how genetic changes contribute and translate to adaptive phenotypic changes. The Nicaraguan Midas cichlids (Amphilophus spp., Fig. 1a) are an excellent model system for studying phenotypic diversification and how this might ultimately result in the formation of novel, distinct species. In Nicaragua, several isolated crater lakes have been colonized from the two great lakes, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua (Fig. 1b and [15]). The age of these crater lakes spans from 25,000 years (Lake Apoyo), to less than 1000 years (Lake Asososca Managua). These smaller crater lakes have been repeatedly colonized by Midas cichlids [16, 17]. Colonization events not only triggered diversification and adaptation to the specific Crater Lake environment [18, 19], but also gave rise to several novel species that formed both in allopatry and sympatry [5]. Each lake can be seen as a small adaptive radiation, within which species and individuals show a wide variety of morphological characteristics [20]. Several traits have been found to differ between source and crater lakes, as well as between the newly-formed species within the crater lakes [21]. These include, but are not limited to, variation in body size and shape (i.e. limnetic and benthic ecomorphs) [5, 22,23,24], pharyngeal jaws [5], hypertrophied lips [25], coloration [26], and visual sensitivity [19]. Midas cichlids present an excellent opportunity to determine the genetic architecture of these traits using genome scans and QTL mapping studies [9, 24]. However, bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype, and understanding how genetic changes translate to phenotypic variation, critically depends on complementary functional approaches [9]. Here, tools such as transgenesis are necessary to facilitate the discovery of the exact genetic changes and mechanisms that underlie phenotypic diversification.

Fig. 1
figure 1

The study system. a-b Within the last 25,000 years Midas cichlids (Amphiliphus spp.; here Amphilophus amarillo from Lake Xiloá (a)) from Nicaragua (b) colonized several small crater lakes from the large lakes L. Nicaragua and L. Managua. Within the crater lakes, Midas cichlids underwent rapid and parallel adaptive evolution and formed several new species

Transgenesis is defined as the process of introducing new genetic information into a living organism. The development of recombinant DNA technology in the early 1970s [27] paved the way for transgenesis to become a widely-used technique in experimental biology. The first transgenic zebrafish was produced in 1988 [28]. Since then, more efficient methods of producing transgenic zebrafish have been developed using transposon-mediated insertion. The now-common Tol2 transposable element was originally isolated from medaka, and Tol2 transposon-mediated transgenesis [11], our method of choice, represented a significant improvement in the efficacy of transgenesis compared to previous approaches. Although the use of transgenesis in zebrafish and medaka is widespread, its use in other teleosts has been fairly limited until recently. Within the last several years, transgenesis has been successfully used in non-model organisms such as the Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) [29], the haplochromine cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni [13], the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) [14] and the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) [12]. Our study adds the Midas cichlid to this growing list of non-model teleost species.

In this study, we show that the Tol2 system of transgenesis can be successfully applied to the Midas cichlid (Fig. 2). We established a stable line of Midas cichlids carrying a ubiquitously expressed enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (eGFP) construct (ubi::eGFP). For this study, we used a construct that combines the ubiquitin (ubi) promoter region, expressed in all eukaryotic cells, and the gene coding for eGFP. This construct was chosen for testing because the fluorescent reporter can be expressed in all cell types, facilitating the quantification of the presence and intensity of transgene expression in treated embryos. The transgene was successfully integrated into the germline, confirming that transgenesis, an important and versatile tool, can be used in Midas cichlids. To further demonstrate the wide applicability of this technology in Midas cichlids, we provide transient expression data for two additional constructs: 1) ubi::tdtomato, a construct with the red fluorescent protein tdTomato [30] under the control of the same ubiquitin promoter and 2) mitfa::eGFP that drives pigment-cell specific GFP expression under the control of the promoter of the melanoblast/melanophore marker microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (mitfa) [31, 32].

Fig. 2
figure 2

Experimental overview. a Midas cichlids are crossed. After successful fertilization, eggs are immediately collected. Alternatively, eggs can be fertilized in vitro. b Embryos at the one-cell stage are injected with a mix of Transposase mRNA, phenol red and a Tol2 flanked DNA-construct. c Positive embryos show a mosaic pattern of GFP fluorescence. They are screened and selected seven days after fertilization. GFP positive larvae are raised. d-e GFP positive individuals are crossed after 9–12 months (d) to obtain stable transgenic Midas cichlid lines (e)

Methods

Fish husbandry and egg collection

Adult Midas cichlids (Amphilophus citrinellus) were maintained in aquarium facilities at the University of Konstanz under constant conditions (28 ± 1 °C, 12 h dark/light cycle, pH 7.5 ± 0.5) as previously described [33]. Gravid females with fully-developed eggs ready for fertilization are identifiable by their characteristic swollen and enlarged genital pore (Fig. 3a). Eggs were stripped and fertilized (Fig. 3a, b) or taken promptly after natural fertilization, as previously described [33].

Fig. 3
figure 3

Egg stripping and microinjection. a Female Midas cichlid (here a golden morph of Amphilophus xiloaensis) with enlarged genital pore. b For in vitro fertilization, eggs are stripped from female fish into petri dishes. To fertilize the eggs, one or more males are stripped. Alternatively, eggs can be taken immediately after ‘natural fertilization). c The microinjection setup that is used for injecting the Midas cichlid embryos. d Orientation of eggs in custom-molded agarose injection plates. The eggs must be oriented in an upright position to allow injection precisely into or just below the cell. e Scheme of the construct used for the generation of the ubi::eGFP line

Cloning

Transgenes were generated using the construct pT2A_ubiquitin-eGFP-pA_pA2 (Fig. 3e). Using site-specific recombination-based cloning (multisite Gateway technology), we combined the promoter region of ubiquitin (p5E_ubi, Addgene ID 27320; [34]) with the Tol2-Kit constructs 383_pME-EGFP, 302_p3E-polyA and 394_pDestTol2pA2 [35] as well as pME-tdTomato [30]. To generate the p5e-mitfa vector, a 1.1kB fragment including 53 bp of 5’UTR and 1054 bp upstream of the 5’UTR were amplified from A. citrinellus genomic DNA using the primer pair 5′ – gat cgc tcg agC ATC TTT GTT CCT TAT CC and 5′ – gat cga cta gtT CCC TTT ATC TTG TTA GC (hybridization sequence in uppercase, leader sequence and restriction site in lowercase). The fragment was cloned into the multiple cloning site of p5e-MCS using the restriction enzymes XhoI and SpeI. pT2A_mitfa-eGFP-pA_pA2 and pT2A_ubiquitin-tdTomato-pA_pA2 were generated using site-specific recombination-based cloning as previously described [35].

Microinjection

After fertilization, eggs were transferred into 2% agarose plates molded with custom-designed injection trenches (Fig. 3c, d). Using forceps, eggs were inserted into the trenches, oriented in an upright position with the animal pole on top. Injections were performed using glass capillaries (Hilgenberg, length 100 mm, outside diameter: 1.0 mm; inside diameter 0.58 mm) pulled on a Sutter P-97 Flaming/Brown Micropipette Puller. A solution composed of the plasmid construct (12.5 ng/μl), transposase (12.5 ng/μl), RNAse-free water and phenol red (1%) for visualization was co-injected into the embryos. An air pressure-driven microinjector (Narishige IM-300) was used for injections. Injection volume was adjusted to fill approximately 5% of the egg volume. The solution was injected directly into the developing one-cell stage embryo to maximize successful incorporation into the genome. Because early embryonic development in Midas cichlids proceeds relatively slowly compared to other teleost species [33], it is possible to inject 500–1000 eggs before the first cell division takes place, 90 to 100 min after fertilization.

Maintenance of larvae, image acquisition and establishment of stable transgenic lines

After injection, eggs were transferred to new plates, with roughly 50 embryos per dish to avoid overcrowding, with fresh autoclaved water from the aquarium facility, and kept in a 28 °C incubator (HIR10M Grant, Boekel) without agitation or aeration. Embryos and larvae were previously tested in conditions with and without agitation or aeration, and these two procedures were found to have no effect on survival [33]. Every 24 h, surviving embryos were transferred to a new petri dish with clean, autoclaved tank water. At seven days post-fertilization, larvae were selected to be raised to maturity. Here, only the larvae showing strong eGFP fluorescence were kept and raised.

To prepare the embryos and larvae for photography, fish were first anesthetized with 0.04% tricaine (MS-222). They were then positioned on a slide using 3% methycellulose. Color photographs were taken with a stereomicroscope (Leica MZ10 F with Leica DMC2900 Camera) using the Leica Application Suite software 4.5.0. To improve the depth of field, we used the “Multifocus Montage” module/plugin of the Leica Application Suite software as previously described [33]. Fluorescent images were taken using the same microscope and software, with a Leica Camera (DFC3000G) and a GFP filter.

After screening for fluorescence, F0 larvae displaying widespread expression of the ubiquitin-eGFP transgene were raised to maturity under standard aquarium conditions. We raised ~40 F0 individuals displaying strong fluorescence, of which ten survived to adulthood. After reaching sexual maturity, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags were implanted inter-muscularly into the dorsal side of the body. Tagged males were then stripped to fertilize wild-type eggs in vitro. The fertilized eggs, referred to as the F1 generation, were screened for survival and fluorescence as described above. Of the five breeding pairs analyzed, two produced clutches with fluorescent offspring.

Sectioning and microscopy

Larval and juvenile fish were sectioned and photographed under a fluorescence microscope. Larvae and juveniles were anaesthetized in tricaine methanosulfonate (MS-222) and fixed for two hours in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 4 °C. After fixation, the specimens were rinsed with PBS and transferred into 30% sucrose in PBS at 4 °C until the specimens sank. The samples were then embedded at 37 °C in pre-heated 11.5% gelatin / 30% sucrose in PBS for 30 min and allowed to harden at room temperature. Gel blocks were trimmed to leave ~5 mm gel on each side of the sample, then slowly lowered into 2-Methylbutane chilled by dry ice until the block froze through, and kept at −80 °C. Sections were cut at 20 μm using a cryostat microtome (HM 500 OM, Microm) at −20 °C and mounted on Superfrost™ Plus Microscope Slides (Menzel-Gläser) at room temperature. The slides were air-dried at room temperature for 30 min then rinsed three times with PBS for ten-minute intervals. The sections were counterstained with 2 μg/ml 4′,6-Diamidine-2′-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI, Sigma) in PBS in dark conditions at room temperature for 20 min and rinsed three times with PBS for ten-minute periods. Slides were mounted in Mowiol mounting medium.

Results

Microinjection and screening process

One of the most common techniques to manipulate the genome of teleosts is through transgenesis, the integration of foreign DNA-constructs into the genome [9]. To generate stable transgenic lines, recombinant DNA has to be integrated into the germline (germline transgenesis). In teleosts, transgenesis of somatic and germ cells can be obtained most effectively by the microinjection of recombinant DNA into one-cell stage embryos. The integration can be significantly increased by co-injection of a Tol2 insertion site-flanked DNA construct and Transposase-encoding mRNA that is readily translated and triggers DNA insertion in a cut-and-paste manner. As a first step, we sought to optimize microinjection conditions in Midas cichlids using a construct expressing a fluorescent reporter. The construct selected for use in this study was comprised of the zebrafish ubiquitin promoter region [34] and the eGFP reporter gene flanked by Tol2 insertion sites (Fig. 3e). In zebrafish, the ubiquitin promoter drives strong and ubiquitous expression during all developmental stages and in all organs. Hence, it is ideal for assessing the applicability and efficacy of transgenesis.

In contrast to the small, round eggs of zebrafish, Midas cichlids eggs are almost two times larger and have an ovoid shape that complicates precise injections. In an effort to optimize injection conditions, we produced agarose trays allowing for the alignment and fixation of embryos in an upright position with the animal pole on the top (Fig. 3d). Microinjection of a mixture of transposase mRNA, DNA, RNAse free water and Phenol red was performed directly into the cell or in the yolk slightly underneath the cell. Injections were carried out until the first cell division occurred, approx. 100 min after fertilization. Strong transient fluorescence can be readily seen at 15 h after fertilization (Fig. 4a, b). This stage corresponds to the dome stage in zebrafish at around 4 h post fertilization [33, 36]. At 7 days post fertilization (dpf), strong fluorescence can be observed in several cell types and tissues, particularly mesodermal and epidermal derivatives (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4
figure 4

Onset of GFP fluorescence. a-b 15 h after fertilization (dome stage) GFP fluorescence can be readily seen and used for selecting positive embryos. Scale bars = 500 μm

Fig. 5
figure 5

Transient expression of ubi::eGFP. At seven days after fertilization, fluorescence can be seen in a mosaic pattern across all tissues including trunk musculature (tm), head bones (hb) and muscles (hm), fin folds (ff), epidermis (e) and heart (h). Images are composites of brightfield and GFP-filter photographs. Scale bar = 500 μm

Generation and analysis of a stable ubi::eGFP transgenic Midas line

Fluorescent individuals were selected and raised in aquaria. Eggs of five independent mating pairs were obtained after one year and screened for fluorescence. Out of five pairs, two produced clutches with embryos ubiquitously expressing eGFP. Around half of the F1 generations fathered by these males were positive for eGFP fluorescence, indicating that the parental males are hemizygotic carriers of the transgenic allele. We documented eGFP fluorescence during the first seven days of development (Fig. 6). The eGFP expression pattern was ubiquitous, with particularly strong expression in somites (Fig. 6a, b). The expression pattern resembled that seen in the transiently expressing embryos. Next, we sectioned 7dpf embryos to show the distribution of eGFP. Notably, sections revealed that the eGFP signal is ubiquitous but not homogenous, with some tissues showing a stronger signal than others. In particular, the trunk and head muscles show a strong eGFP signal both in whole embryos (Fig. 6) and in sections (Fig. 7). In adult fish, a strong eGFP signal can be detected in all analyzed organs including brain, eye, liver, heart and fin tissue (Fig. 8). Overall, eGFP fluorescence was strong across all developmental stages and analyzed tissues.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Ubi::eGFP F1 larvae throughout early development. a-d F1 individuals carrying the ubi::eGFP transgene at 2dpf (a), 3dpf (b), 4dpf (c) and 7dpf (d). Scale bars = 500 μm

Fig. 7
figure 7

Transverse sections of ubi::eGFP and wild type larvae at 7dpf. a-h All larvae were stained with DAPI (b, f) and photographed under the same conditions. While F1 ubi::eGFP larvae (a, e) show bright fluorescence under GFP filtered light (c, g), wild types show minimal autofluorescence (d, h). Sketches indicate the location of the sections. Scale bars = 100 μm

Fig. 8
figure 8

Ubi::eGFP transgene expression in F1 organs. a-o F1 individual shows bright fluorescence throughout the body including brain (a, b), eye (d, e), liver (g, h), heart (j, k) and fins (m, n) when viewed under fluorescent light with a GFP filter (b, e, h, k, n). Organs of non-transgenic fish show minimal levels of autofluorescence in every organ examined (c, f, i, l, o)

Transient expression patterns of two additional transgenic constructs: ubiquitin::tdTomato and mitfa::eGFP

To demonstrate that the transgenesis approach is widely applicable in Midas cichlids, we generated two additional constructs: ubiquitin::tdTomato, which uses a different (red fluorescent) reporter, and mitfa::eGFP, that labels pigment cells under the control of a 1.1 kb promoter element of the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (mitfa). For ubiquitin::tdTomato (Fig. 9a), strong transient fluorescence is displayed in the embryos, with an expression pattern resembling that of the ubiquitin::eGFP construct (Fig. 9b-c). To test a more cell-specific promoter, we used the promoter sequence 1.1kB upstream of the A. citrinellus mitfa coding sequence (Fig. 10a) to create mitfa::eGFP (Fig. 10b). A similar construct using the proximal promoter sequence of zebrafish mitfa has previously been shown to drive melanoblast-specific expression in zebrafish embryos [31]. Indeed, GFP fluorescence could be detected in non-pigmented dendritic cells on the head and trunk (Fig. 10c-d) suggesting that the construct is able to drive expression specifically in melanoblasts (i.e. melanophore precursors).

Fig. 9
figure 9

Transient expression of ubi::tdTomato. (a-c) Similar to ubi::eGFP, embryos injected with ubi::tdTomato (a) show bright fluorescence in a mosaic pattern across all tissues (2dpf, b; 4dpf, c). Scale bar = 500 μm

Fig. 10
figure 10

Transient expression of mitfa::eGFP. a-b To test a cell-type specific promoter, we cloned a 1.1kB promoter fragment of A. citrinellus mitfa (a), a melanoblast marker, upstream of eGFP (b). c At 7dpf, GFP was expressed in dendritic cells on the head (white arrows) and trunk region (black arrows). d On the trunk, cells expressing GFP were mainly located dorsally (black arrows), similar to expression patterns seen in zebrafish [33]. A few cells could be found more ventrally, entangled with melanophores in the ventral melanophore stripe (white arrows). Scale bar = 500 μm

Discussion

In this study, we adapt existing protocols to perform transgenesis in the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus). Using the Tol2 transposon system, we produced the first transgenic Midas cichlids. As such, this work represents the first step towards testing genes and regulatory elements underlying adaptive traits in this adaptively-radiating species complex. Several important life history traits make transgenesis in this species group particularly feasible and convenient. First, unlike many of the African cichlid species, Midas cichlids are substrate-brooding fish. This facilitates the fertilization of eggs in vitro, granting more flexibility in planning experiments. Each clutch may contain over one thousand eggs, allowing for a large sample size and robust statistical analysis in any transgenic study on this species.

Applications of transgenesis

Transgenesis enables the insertion of novel genetic information into the target genome. Therefore, it is particularly well-suited for two applications: 1) Reporter assays for testing the activity and expression pattern of cis-regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers, and 2) overexpression experiments to analyze gene function. This methodology would therefore allow to test regulatory element candidates obtained from QTL studies or association studies [12, 37], as well as through methods such as ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq that allow for genome-wide identification of active regulatory elements [38, 39]. Gene function can also be assessed using overexpression, in which the expression of a gene of interest is increased by integrating another copy of the gene. This gene can be under the control of a ubiquitous promoter, or can be further specified in space and time using tissue-specific promoters. Overexpression can be effectively used to mimic regulatory changes that might ultimately explain phenotypic differences. On the other hand, phenotypes that result from gene loss or hypomorphic mutations affecting gene function can be rescued by the overexpression of the respective gene [9]. Cell-type specific constructs such as mitfa::eGFP will be especially valuable resources to improve the understanding of pigmentation phenotypes in cichlid fishes, a family known for its rich diversity of hues and color patterns.

Advantages and pitfalls of performing transgenesis in Midas cichlids

Several factors determine the suitability of a teleost species for transgenesis studies. Critical factors are 1) frequent breeding under lab conditions, 2) the possibility of raising larvae under lab conditions, 3) possibility to obtain one to two-cell stage embryos, 4) large clutch sizes, 5) regular breeding times, 6) a penetrable chorion that permits microinjection and 7) short generation times to obtain F1 individuals. For many ecological model systems, one or more of these factors hampers efficient transgenesis. In sticklebacks, an excellent system for analyzing gene function and regulatory divergence, transgenesis is particularly complicated by seasonal breeding behavior and small clutch sizes [37]. Likewise, African cichlids are an excellent model system for understanding phenotypic diversification, but suffer from drawbacks regarding transgenesis. In the case of the African cichlids, the combination of small clutch sizes, mouth-brooding and the difficulty of timing fertilization make the application of transgenesis at large scales prohibitively challenging. Midas cichlids exhibit several traits that make transgenesis a suitable tool for this model system. A few days before fertilization, Midas cichlids form monogamous pairs [40]. At the time the genital papillae swells, fertilization can be predicted to occur within the next 24 h. Consequently, eggs can be collected directly after natural fertilization, or artificially fertilized as previously described [33]. The clutches are large (up to 1500 or more eggs) and develop relatively slowly. Larvae are robust and can be easily raised in tap water under lab conditions [33]. One of the major drawbacks of Midas cichlids is their long generation time, which can range from nine to twelve months. While the aforementioned advantages ease transient analysis, long generation times make it time- and space consuming to obtain stable transgenes.

From Midas genotypes to Midas phenotypes

Midas cichlids are an excellent example of rapid phenotypic changes. This includes adaptive variation in body shapes (i.e. limnetic and benthic forms) [5, 24], hypertrophied lips [25], teeth and pharyngeal jaws [5], the gold/dark polymorphism of Midas cichlids [26], and visual sensitivity [19]. Increasing genomic and transcriptomic resources facilitate the discovery of more and more genotype-phenotype relationships. However, to further understand which genetic elements contribute to phenotypic variation, it is essential to pinpoint and validate their functional relevance. Testing of regulatory elements using GFP transgenesis assays and overexpression of target genes [41] via transgenesis are important tools that will bring researchers closer to understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype.

Conclusion

Transgenesis is a key technology for understanding the genetic and molecular basis of adaptive traits. For the first time, we used Tol2-mediated transgenesis in the Midas cichlid, a model system for fast and repeated parallel evolution of adaptive phenotypes. This technological advancement opens up new possibilities for studying the genotypic and molecular basis of adaptive traits in Midas cichlids, and provides a workflow for other substrate brooding cichlids and teleosts. We anticipate that the use of transgenesis in Midas cichlid will contribute novel insights into the genetic underpinnings of early stages of diversification.

Abbreviations

dpf:

days post fertilization

eGFP :

enhanced green fluorescent protein

ubi :

ubiquitin

References

  1. Kocher TD. Adaptive evolution and explosive speciation: the cichlid fish model. Nat Rev Genet. 2004;5:288–98.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Henning F, Meyer A. The evolutionary genomics of cichlid fishes: explosive speciation and adaptation in the postgenomic era. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2014;15:417–41.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Seehausen O, Mayhew PJ, van Alphen JJM. Evolution of colour patterns in east African cichlid fish. J Evol Biol. 1999;12:519–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Roberts RB, Ser JR, Kocher TD. Sexual conflict resolved by invasion of a novel sex determiner in Lake Malawi cichlid fishes. Science. 2009;326:998–1001.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Barluenga M, Stölting KN, Salzburger W, Muschick M, Meyer A. Sympatric speciation in Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fish. Nature. 2006;439:719–23.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kusche H, Recknagel H, Elmer KR, Meyer A. Crater lake cichlids individually specialize along the benthic-limnetic axis. Ecol Evol. 2014;4:1127–39.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. York RA, Patil C, Hulsey CD, Anoruo O, Streelman JT, Fernald RD. Evolution of bower building in Lake Malawi cichlid fish: phylogeny, morphology, and behavior. Front. Ecol. Evol. Frontiers. 2015;3

  8. Lee HJ, Kusche H, Meyer A. Handed foraging behavior in scale-eating cichlid fish: its potential role in shaping morphological asymmetry. PLoS One. 2012;7:e44670.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Kratochwil CF, Meyer A. Closing the genotype-phenotype gap: emerging technologies for evolutionary genetics in ecological model vertebrate systems. BioEssays. 2015;37:213–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Brawand D, Wagner CE, Li YI, Malinsky M, Keller I, Fan S, et al. The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish. Nature. 2014;513:375–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Kawakami K. Tol2: a versatile gene transfer vector in vertebrates. Genome Biol. 2007;8 Suppl 1:S7.

  12. Chan YF, Marks ME, Jones FC, Villarreal G, Shapiro MD, Brady SD, et al. Adaptive evolution of pelvic reduction in sticklebacks by recurrent deletion of a Pitx1 enhancer. Science. 2010;327:302–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Juntti SA, CK H, Fernald RD. Tol2-mediated generation of a transgenic haplochromine cichlid, Astatotilapia Burtoni. PLoS One. 2013;8:e77647.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Valenzano DR, Sharp S, Brunet A. Transposon-mediated Transgenesis in the short-lived African killifish Nothobranchius Furzeri, a vertebrate model for aging. G3 (Bethesda). 2011;1:531–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Elmer KR, Kusche H, Lehtonen TK, Meyer A. Local variation and parallel evolution: morphological and genetic diversity across a species complex of neotropical crater lake cichlid fishes. Phil Trans R Soc B. 2010;365:1763–82.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Torres Dowdall J, Meyer A. Incipient sympatric speciation in Midas cichlid fish from the youngest and one of the smallest crater lakes in Nicaragua due to differential use of the benthic and limnetic habitats? Ecol Evol. 2016;6:5342–57.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. Multispecies outcomes of sympatric speciation after admixture with the source population in two radiations of Nicaraguan crater Lake cichlids. PLoS Genet. 2016;12:e1006157.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Barluenga M, Meyer A. The Midas cichlid species complex: incipient sympatric speciation in Nicaraguan cichlid fishes? Mol Ecol. 2004;13:2061–76.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Torres Dowdall J, Pierotti MER, Härer A, Karagic N, Woltering JM, Henning F, et al. Rapid and parallel adaptive evolution of the visual system of Neotropical Midas cichlid fishes. Mol Biol Evol. 2017;34:2469–85.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Recknagel H, Elmer KR, Meyer A. Crater lake habitat predicts morphological diversity in adaptive radiations of cichlid fishes. Evolution. 2014;68:2145–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Elmer KR, Meyer A. Adaptation in the age of ecological genomics: insights from parallelism and convergence. Trends Ecol Evol. 2011;26:298–306.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Meyer A. Ecological and evolutionary consequences of the trophic polymorphism in Cichlasoma Citrinellum (Pisces: Cichlidae). Biol J Linn Soc. 1990;

  23. Meyer A. Morphometrics and allometry in the trophically polymorphic cichlid fish, Cichlasoma Citrinellum: alternative adaptations and ontogenetic changes in shape. J Zool. 1990;221:237–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Franchini P, Fruciano C, Spreitzer ML, Jones JC, Elmer KR, Henning F, et al. Genomic architecture of ecologically divergent body shape in a pair of sympatric crater lake cichlid fishes. Mol Ecol. 2014;23:1828–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Machado-Schiaffino G, Henning F, Meyer A. Species-specific differences in adaptive phenotypic plasticity in an ecologically relevant trophic trait: hypertrophic lips in midas cichlid fishes. Evolution. 2014;68:2086–91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Henning F, Jones JC, Franchini P, Meyer A. Transcriptomics of morphological color change in polychromatic Midas cichlids. BMC Genomics. 2013;14:171.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Cohen SN, Chang AC, Boyer HW, Helling RB. Construction of biologically functional bacterial plasmids in vitro. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. national. Acad Sci. 1973;70:3240–4.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Stuart GW, McMurray JV, Westerfield M. Replication, integration and stable germ-line transmission of foreign sequences injected into early zebrafish embryos. Development. 1988;103:403–12.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Fujimura K, Kocher TD. Tol2-mediated transgenesis in tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus). Aquaculture. 2011;319:342–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Williams PR, Suzuki SC, Yoshimatsu T, Lawrence OT, Waldron SJ, Parsons MJ, et al. Vivo development of outer retinal synapses in the absence of glial contact. J Neurosci. 2010;30:11951–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Raible DW, Lister JA. Foxd3 controls melanophore specification in the zebrafish neural crest by regulation of Mitf. Dev Biol. 2009;332:408–17.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Lister JA, Robertson CP, Lepage T, Johnson SL, Raible DW. Nacre encodes a zebrafish microphthalmia-related protein that regulates neural-crest-derived pigment cell fate. Development. 1999;126:3757–67.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Kratochwil CF, Sefton MM, Meyer A. Embryonic and larval development in the Midas cichlid fish species flock (Amphilophus spp.): a new evo-devo model for the investigation of adaptive novelties and species differences. BMC Dev Biol. 2015;15:277–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Mosimann C, Kaufman CK, Li P, Pugach EK, Tamplin OJ, Zon LI. Ubiquitous transgene expression and Cre-based recombination driven by the ubiquitin promoter in zebrafish. Development. 2011;138:169–77.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Kwan KM, Fujimoto E, Grabher C, Mangum BD, Hardy ME, Campbell DS, et al. The Tol2kit: a multisite gateway-based construction kit for Tol2 transposon transgenesis constructs. Dev Dyn. 2007;236:3088–99.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Kimmel CB, Ballard WW, Kimmel SR, Ullmann B, Schilling TF. Stages of embryonic development of the zebrafish. Dev Dyn. 1995;203:253–310.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. O'Brown NM, Summers BR, Jones FC, Brady SD, Kingsley DMA. Recurrent regulatory change underlying altered expression and Wnt response of the stickleback armor plates gene EDA. elife. 2015;4:e05290.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Kratochwil CF, Meyer A. Mapping active promoters by ChIP-seq profiling of H3K4me3 in cichlid fish - a first step to uncover cis-regulatory elements in ecological model teleosts. Mol Ecol Resour. 2015;15:761–71.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Kratochwil CF, Meyer A. Evolution: tinkering within gene regulatory landscapes. Curr Biol. 2015;25:R285–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Barlow GW. Mate choice in the monogamous and polychromatic Midas cichlid, Cichlasoma Citrinellum. J Fish Biol. 1986;29:123–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Kratochwil CF, Rijli FM. The Cre/Lox system to assess the development of the mouse brain. Methods Mol Biol. 2014;1082:295–313.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (P2BSP3_148629), the EU FP7 Marie Curie Zukunftskolleg Incoming Fellowship Program, University of Konstanz (grant no. 291784), the Elite Program for Postdocs of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and a grant of the German Research Foundation (KR 4670/2-1) to CFK. Funding for MMS was granted by a Ph.D. fellowship of the Hector Foundation. YL is funded by a stipend from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). AM is funded by several grants of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the University of Konstanz and an advanced grant 297300 “GenAdapt” by the European Research Council. Many thanks to Chi-Bin Chien (Tol2kit), Rachel Wong (pMe::tdTomato), Leonard Zon (p5e::Ubiquitin) and James Lister (Zebrafish mitfa construct that did not work in Midas, but based on which we designed the Midas construct) for sending us plasmids or providing them via Addgene. We appreciate the efforts and constructive input of the editor and two anonymous reviewers. The authors thank Ralf Schneider and Joost Woltering for discussions of this work and comments on the manuscript. Also, we specifically thank the staff of the animal research facility of the University of Konstanz for their excellent care of our fish.

Availability of data and materials

All necessary data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

CFK conceived, designed and supervised the experiments; CFK cloned the constructs. CFK, MMS and YL conducted and optimized the microinjection experiments. CFK, MMS and YL performed histology and analyzed the embryos and sections. MMS wrote the first draft of manuscript. CFK and AM edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Claudius F. Kratochwil or Axel Meyer.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Experiments were performed in accordance with the rules of the animal research facility of the University of Konstanz, Germany and have been granted permission by the animal care committee (Regierungspräsidium) Freiburg, Germany (Az. 35–9185.81/G13/99).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kratochwil, C.F., Sefton, M.M., Liang, Y. et al. Tol2 transposon-mediated transgenesis in the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) — towards understanding gene function and regulatory evolution in an ecological model system for rapid phenotypic diversification. BMC Dev Biol 17, 15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12861-017-0157-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12861-017-0157-x

Keywords