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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature

Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestine of hyperdiverse cichlid fishes

  • Antoine Fages1
  • Maëva Luxey2,3
  • Fabrizia Ronco3
  • Charlotte E. T. Huyghe3
  • Sabrina Fischer3
  • Gudrun Viktorin3
  • P. Navaneeth Krishna Menon3
  • Adrian Indermaur3
  • Walter Salzburger4
  • Patrick Tschopp5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. [email protected]
  2. 2MeLis, CNRS UMR 5284, INSERM U1314, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Institut NeuroMyoGène, Lyon, France
  3. 3Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  4. 4Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. [email protected]
  5. 5Zoological Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. [email protected]
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Abstract

Adaptations related to how nutrients are acquired and processed play a central role in the colonization of novel ecological niches and, therefore, in organismal diversification. While the evolution of feeding structures has been studied extensively in this context, the nature of dietary adaptations in the digestive tract remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the cellular and molecular basis of dietary adaptations in the massive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika using comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic data derived from the intestines of 24 endemic cichlid species with distinct habitats and diets. We show that, at the cellular level, dietary adaptations are primarily driven by anterior enterocytes, and that both the relative abundance and gene expression profiles of these cells have evolved in response to rapid dietary specializations. These dietary adaptations are driven by rapidly evolving cell population-specific genes, suggesting that alterations in epithelial cell specification programs and molecular makeup promote ecological diversification.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{fages2026adaptive,
  title = {{Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestine of hyperdiverse cichlid fishes}},
  author = {Antoine Fages and Maëva Luxey and Fabrizia Ronco and Charlotte E. T. Huyghe and Sabrina Fischer and Gudrun Viktorin and P. Navaneeth Krishna Menon and Adrian Indermaur and Walter Salzburger and Patrick Tschopp},
  journal = {Nature},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10494-8},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10494-8},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestine of hyperdiverse cichlid fishes
AU  - Antoine Fages
AU  - Maëva Luxey
AU  - Fabrizia Ronco
AU  - Charlotte E. T. Huyghe
AU  - Sabrina Fischer
AU  - Gudrun Viktorin
AU  - P. Navaneeth Krishna Menon
AU  - Adrian Indermaur
AU  - Walter Salzburger
AU  - Patrick Tschopp
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/13
JO  - Nature
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-026-10494-8
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10494-8
AB  - Adaptations related to how nutrients are acquired and processed play a central role in the colonization of novel ecological niches and, therefore, in organismal diversification. While the evolution of feeding structures has been studied extensively in this context, the nature of dietary adaptations in the digestive tract remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the cellular and molecular basis of dietary adaptations in the massive radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika using comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic data derived from the intestines of 24 endemic cichlid species with distinct habitats and diets. We show that, at the cellular level, dietary adaptations are primarily driven by anterior enterocytes, and that both the relative abundance and gene expression profiles of these cells have evolved in response to rapid dietary specializations. These dietary adaptations are driven by rapidly evolving cell population-specific genes, suggesting that alterations in epithelial cell specification programs and molecular makeup promote ecological diversification.
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
ER  -