Shedding light on the evolution of a blind cavefish FWF-PAT 1494723

Cave organisms often evolve similar (troglomorphic) phenotypes associated with living in subterranean habitats. Most striking changes include the reduction or loss of eyes and body pigmentation.
Studying the evolutionary mechanisms of trait variation in cave organisms has multiple advantages: selective pressure (or relaxed selection) in caves is often strong and well-understood and in different organism groups, cave- and surface-dwelling species pairs are known.

Two main hypotheses have been proposed concerning the mechanisms that drive the convergent evolution of troglomorphisms: i) They result from a lack of selective constraints. (ii) Troglomorphic traits provide selective advantages in cave ecosystems, this also includes pleiotropic effects.

Both hypotheses do not exclusively explain the evolution of troglomorphic phenotypes and thus the question remains: to what extent do they contribute to the evolution of different cave dwelling organisms?
In our project, we will to continue our research focus on a troglomorphic cave fish from Northern Oman: Garra longipinnis.

We aim to answer the following questions:
 

1. Is genetic differentiation among cave and surface populations driven by adaptation to the cave environment or due to random fixation from genetic drift?
2. Are adaptive genetic changes the result of de-novo mutations or due to shifts in standing genetic variation?
3. Are troglomorphic characters the result of changes in protein structure of genes and/or due to regulatory changes modifying expression patterns?

To uncover the genomic basis of troglomorphic phenotypes, we will perform cutting edge analyses, that include de novo genome assemblies, population genomic analyses using comprehensive genome-wide data generated through Whole Genome Resequencing (WGR) and transcriptomics. We will compare large numbers of samples from both cave and surface populations of G. longipinnis, as well as from a population of a closely related surface species.

Primary Researchers involved

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Luise Kruckenhauser
Dr. Sandra Kirchner

Dr. Martin Kapun


The research projects of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics deal with phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies of a broad variety of animal species. These studies include also questions of genetic and morphological diversity. The projects are performed in cooperation with different departments of the NHM as well as in the course on national and international collaborations.

Education

• 27.11.2020 Habilitation at the University of Vienna for the  subject Evolutionary Zoology, titel of the habilitation thesis: “Investigations on the interface between populations and species”
• 23.5.2000 Ph.D. graduation (Zoology) at the University of Vienna
• 1996-2000 Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Medical Biology, Dept. of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna Title: "Molecular analysis of intra- and interspecific variation in the genus Marmota (marmots)."
• 28.11.1995 M.Sc. graduation (Zoology) at the University of Vienna
• 1993-1995 M.Sc. thesis at the Institute of General Biology, Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna: Title: "Genetic differentiation of Alpine Marmots traced by DNA-fingerprinting."
• 1988-1995 Studies of zoology and genetics at the University of Vienna

Professional History

• since 1.1.2009 Scientific researcher at the Museum of Natural History, Vienna (1st Zoological Dept., Laboratory for Molecular Systematics)
• since 1.11.2007 Scientific researcher at the Museum of Natural History, Vienna Austrian Science Foundation project: "Phylogeographic analysis of selected Alpine land snails."
• 7/2006-9/2006 Research assistent in the Mammal Collection, Natural History Museum Vienna
• 1.2.2001 - 31.10.2007 Scientific work as freelancer:
  • Population genetic investigation of Garra barreimiae in Oman
  • WWF-Project "Genetic Monitoring of the brown bear population in Central Austria."
  • Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage "Genetic analysis of brown bear scats and hair samples collected in the Pyrenees."
• 4/2000-9/2000 Scientific researcher at the Museum of Natural History, Vienna (Department of Zoology, Laboratory for Molecular Biology), Austrian Science Foundation project (P14069-BIO): "Molecular phylogeny of the genus Buteo."
• 1/1997-2/2000 Research assistant at the Institute of Medical Biology, Dept. of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna, Austrian Science Foundation project (P11840-GEN): “Molecular analysis of intra- and intraspecific variation in the genus Marmota (marmots).”
• 1994-1996 Teaching assistant at the Institute of General Biology, Dept. of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna
• 1993-1996 Research assistant at the "Bundesanstalt für Wassergüte" (Vienna), project: "Neue Donau" (microbiological investigations of water quality of the New Danube)

Academic Teaching

• since 2014 Co-lecturer: seminar “evolutionary genetics”
• 2012 Co-lecturer: Summer School: “500 million years molluscs” (Faculty
  of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
• since 2011 Co-lecturer for the practical course “Molecuar Phylogeny on the basis of museums material”   (Faculty of Life Sciences,University of Vienna)
• 2011 Lecturer: practical course “Laboratory for Evolutionary Biology” (Faculty of Life Sciences,
     University of Vienna)
• 2005 Lecturer: Evolution of human and their diseases. (Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna
• 1995-2000 Co-lecturer of the practical course "Genetics for medical students" (Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna)
• 1994-2001 Co-lecturer of the practical course "Experimental population and evolutionary genetics" (Faculty of Science, University of Vienna)
• 1995-1998 Co-lecturer of the theoretical and practical course "Experimental systems in developmental genetics" (Faculty of Science, University of Vienna)
• 1994-1997 Co-lecturer of the practical course "Biology for medical students" (Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna)

Research Visits and Advanced Training Courses

• 2010 “Hands on Genomics/Transcriptomics Data Mining”, Workshop and Symposium, Frankfurt (Germany)
• 2007   “Networking for Future” Fortbildungskurs bei ösb–consulting, Wien (Austria): 4 months
• 2006 Wildlife Forensics course bei Wildlife DNA Services, Dr. Rob Ogden, Bangor UK
• 2000 R.J. Nelson, University of Victoria, Victoria (Canada): 3 months
• 1998 A. Bryant, Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Team, The Nature Trust of B.C., Nanaimo (Canada)
• 1996 Prof. Pierre Taberlet, Laboratoire de Biologie des Populations d´Altitude, CNRS UMR 5553, Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble (France)
• 1996 EU-workshop "Molecular tools for biodiversity", Bristol (England)
• 1995 EMBO course "Computer based sequence analysis and molecular evolution", Lyon (France)

Teaching

since 2022 - Lecture “Molecular Biodiversity Research: DNA Barcoding and other methods. Examples from practical application and theoretical basics” (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
 
since 2014 - Co-lecturer: seminar “evolutionary genetics” (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
 
since 2011 - Co-lecturer: practical course “Molecular Phylogeny on the basis of museums material”
 (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
 
2012 - Co-lecturer: Summer School: “500 million years molluscs” (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
 
2011 - Lecturer: practical course “Laboratory for Evolutionary Biology” (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna)
 
2005 - Lecturer: Evolution of human and their diseases. (Faculty of Medicine, University of Vienna)