GeT PlaGe helps to solve early diversification of teleost fish

End of 50 years of controversy!

The initial evolution of teleost fishes has long been the subject of debate, particularly over the identification of the clades that diverged 250 million years ago.
The use of molecular and genetic approaches has so far failed to resolve the question of the relative place of the Osteoglossomorpha, Elopomorpha and Clupeocephala clades in the phylogenetic tree.
Parey et al (Science, 10.1126/science.abq4257) in collaboration with GeT-PlaGe and Genotoul-Bionfo have sequenced, assembled and annotated the genomes of 7 representative species of the order Elopomorpha.
This genetic data, combined with that from 18 other species including Osteoglossomorpha and Clupeocephala, was analysed using a pipeline adapted to resolve the presence of paralogs based on the conservation of synteny. As a result, 955 orthologous genes were selected from the 25 genomes analysed and used as a basis for phylogenetic construction. The data was refined by comparing the genomic structure (rearrangement, conservation of gene flanking regions, etc.).
This strategy made a breakthrough on the evolutionary front, demonstrating that Elopomorpha and Osteoglossomorpha form the Eloposteoglossocephala group.