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The genetic basis of the leafy seadragon’s unique camouflage morphology and avenues for its efficient conservation derived from habitat modeling

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Abstract

The leafy seadragon certainly is among evolution’s most “beautiful and wonderful” species aptly named for its extraordinary camouflage mimicking its coastal seaweed habitat. However, limited information is known about the genetic basis of its phenotypes and conspicuous camouflage. Here, we revealed genomic signatures of rapid evolution and positive selection in core genes related to its camouflage, which allowed us to predict population dynamics for this species. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that seadragons have the smallest olfactory repertoires among all ray-finned fishes, suggesting adaptations to the highly specialized habitat. Other positively selected and rapidly evolving genes that serve in bone development and coloration are highly expressed in the leaf-like appendages, supporting a recent adaptive shift in camouflage appendage formation. Knock-out of bmp6 results in dysplastic intermuscular bones with a significantly reduced number in zebrafish, implying its important function in bone formation. Global climate change-induced loss of seagrass beds now severely threatens the continued existence of this enigmatic species. The leafy seadragon has a historically small population size likely due to its specific habitat requirements that further exacerbate its vulnerability to climate change. Therefore, taking climate change-induced range shifts into account while developing future protection strategies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41825013, 42230409, 42006108, 42276126), Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of CAS (ZDBS-LY-DQC004), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFF0502803), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB42030204) and South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SCSIO202208).

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  1. Contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-Resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (GML, Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China

    Meng Qu, Yingyi Zhang, Zhixin Zhang, Yali Liu, Xin Wang, Haiyan Yu, Huixian Zhang, Yuhong Liu & Qiang Lin

  2. Sanya Institute of Oceanology, SCSIO, Sanya, 572000, China

    Meng Qu, Yingyi Zhang, Zhixin Zhang, Yali Liu, Xin Wang, Haiyan Yu, Huixian Zhang, Yuhong Liu & Qiang Lin

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Meng Qu, Yingyi Zhang, Yali Liu & Qiang Lin

  4. College of Fisheries, Key Lab of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Zexia Gao & Shiming Wan

  5. Marine Evolutionary Ecology, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Ralf Schneider

  6. Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464, Konstanz, Germany

    Axel Meyer

  7. Global Ocean and Climate Research Center, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Zhixin Zhang

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  1. Meng Qu
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Correspondence to Axel Meyer or Qiang Lin.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The procedures related to animal subjects of our study were approved by Ethic Committee of South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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The genetic basis of the leafy seadragon’s unique camouflage morphology and avenues for its efficient conservation derived from habitat modeling

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Qu, M., Zhang, Y., Gao, Z. et al. The genetic basis of the leafy seadragon’s unique camouflage morphology and avenues for its efficient conservation derived from habitat modeling. Sci. China Life Sci. 66, 1213–1230 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-022-2317-6

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