Evolutionary developmental biology of bitterling fish

Yi, W. (2022)

Doctoral Thesis

We developed the bitterling as a unique, well-studied model organism in the area of the evolutionary ecology of brood parasitism. The bitterling-mussel relationship, interspecific mussel host preference, and mussel gill structure are studied in detail, to help understand the developmental adaptation of bitterling embryos in response to their mussel hosts. Our complete stage series of the bitterling species R. ocellatus in Chapter 2 is a new, character-based systems that are compatible with the widely-used zebrafish staging system. With time-lapse video, we demonstrated the dynamic processes of hatching moment of the rosy bitterling in real time, which indicates the hatching process is mechanical rather than enzymatic. In Chapter 3, we described the neuroanatomy of bitterling for the first time, filling the gaps in the previous embryonic research in various bitterling taxa. Combined with the molecular analysis of brain early development in Chapter 4, brain development in the rosy bitterling is compared with that in the zebrafish. In Chapter 5, we studied the morphogenetic process of blastokinesis in the bitterling embryo, and its possible relation to brood parasitism.

• Co-evolution
• Embryogenesis
• Hatching
• Morphogenesis
• Staging
• Proliferation zone
• Prosomeric model
• Neuroembryology
• Brain ventricle
• Blastokinesis

• All authors: Yi, W.
• Supervisor: Richardson, M.K.
• Co-supervisor: Rücklin, M.
• Committee: Wezel, G.P. van; Ruiter, M.C. de; Verbeek, F.J.; Aldridge, D.; Reichard, M.; Spierings, M.J.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2022-03-15
• Sponsorship: China Scholarship Council (No. 201406760046)