Understanding the Role of Reticulation on the Relationships of Ostariophysan Orders Using Phylogenetic Networks

• Grant number: 23/07838-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Claudio de Oliveira
• Grantee: Gustavo Adolfo Ballen Chaparro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/13433-6 - Phylogeny and molecular identification of fishes of the superorder Ostariophysi (Chordata: Actinopterygii) using genomic approaches, AP.TEM

Abstract

The superorder Ostariophysi is the largest clade of strictly freshwater fishes in the world. Its diversity has been arranged in five orders, whose interrelationships have be show to be problematic by a number of studies using different data sources. As genome-scale datasets become available, it has been found that there is still a lack of consensus among studies on basic questions such as the inter-ordinal relationships, the monophyly of some of its orders (e.g., Characiformes), and the basal intraordinalinterrelationships in some of the orders, particularly in Siluriformes, Gymnotiformes, andCharaciformes. The use of methods for inference of phylogenetic networks is still rarely applied to questions in Neotropical ichthyology, but has the potential of explaining complex topological issues that arise in presence of gene-tree to species-tree discordance by either incomplete lineage sorting, or reticulation arising from both point introgression (hybridization) or long-term introgression. One of the challenges for addressing these big questions in evolutionary biology of fishes is the massive diversity of the group, which comprises thousands of species. Generation of genome-scale molecular sampling leads to the second challenge which is the difficulty in developing and applying computationaltools for analyzing these data. Here we propose the analysis of massive datasets from this supraordinal group of fishes as well as the development of tools for streamlining dataanalysis and for inferring phylogenetic networks that may help understand the complex Ostariophysan evolutionary history.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; DE PINNA, MARIO C. C.. A reply to a comment on Ballen and de Pinna (2021) by Kubicek, Britz, and Conway. ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, v. N/A, p. 3-pg., 2024-04-11. (16/02253-1, 23/07838-1, 14/11558-5)

PRZELOMSKA, NATALIA A. S.; DIAZ, RUDY A.; AVILA, FABIO ANDRES; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; CORTES-B, ROCIO; KISTLER, LOGAN; CHITWOOD, DANIEL H.; CHARITONIDOU, MARTHA; RENNER, SUSANNE S.; PEREZ-ESCOBAR, OSCAR A.; et al. Morphometrics and Phylogenomics of Coca (Erythroxylum spp.) Illuminate Its Reticulate Evolution, With Implications for Taxonomy. Molecular Biology and Evolution, v. 41, n. 7, p. 19-pg., 2024-07-10. (23/07838-1)

DE GRACIA, CARLOS; VILLALOBOS-SEGURA, EDUARDO; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; CARNEVALE, GIORGIO; KRIWET, JUERGEN. Phylogenetic patterns in fossil and living billfishes (Istiophoriformes, Istiophoridae): evidence from the Central Mediterranean. PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY, v. 10, n. 4, p. 27-pg., 2024-07-01. (16/02253-1, 23/07838-1, 14/11558-5)