Repeatable, convergent outcomes are prima facie evidence for determinism in evolutionary processes. Among fishes, well-known examples include microevolutionary habitat transitions into the water column, where freshwater populations (e.g., sticklebacks, cichlids, and whitefishes) recurrently diverge toward slender-bodied pelagic forms and deep-bodied benthic forms. However, the consequences of such processes at deeper macroevolutionary scales in the marine environment are less clear. We applied a phylogenomics-based integrative, comparative approach to test hypotheses about the scope and strength of convergence in a marine fish clade with a worldwide distribution (snappers and fusiliers, family Lutjanidae) featuring multiple water-column transitions over the past 45 million years. We collected genome-wide exon data for 110 (∼80%) species in the group and aggregated data layers for body shape, habitat occupancy, geographic distribution, and paleontological and geological information. We also implemented approaches using genomic subsets to account for phylogenetic uncertainty in comparative analyses. Our results show independent incursions into the water column by ancestral benthic lineages in all major oceanic basins. These evolutionary transitions are persistently associated with convergent phenotypes, where deep-bodied benthic forms with truncate caudal fins repeatedly evolve into slender midwater species with furcate caudal fins. Lineage diversification and transition dynamics vary asymmetrically between habitats, with benthic lineages diversifying faster and colonizing midwater habitats more often than the reverse. Convergent ecological and functional phenotypes along the benthic–pelagic axis are pervasive among different lineages and across vastly different evolutionary scales, achieving predictable high-fitness solutions for similar environmental challenges, ultimately demonstrating strong determinism in fish body-shape evolution.

Molecular studies have shown that Neotropical fishes of the order Characiformes have undergone two independent events of cave colonization. Among these fishes are the Mexican blind cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus), a well-studied model system for cave adaptation, and the lesser-known Brazilian blind characid (Stygichthys typhlops). Although various genomic and transcriptomic approaches have been used to identify genes responsible for cave adaptation in A. mexicanus, these genetic factors have not been explored in an evolutionary comparative framework in cave-adapted characiforms. To address this gap, we assembled a de novo transcriptome for the Brazilian blind characid, identifying 27,845 assembled unigenes, of which 22,580 were assigned as putative one-to-one orthologs to the Mexican cavefish. We then used the package RELAX to analyze 789 genes in cavefishes, identifying 311 genes under intensified or relaxed selection. Our analysis revealed 26 genes with signatures of convergent, relaxed selection linked to vision, circadian cycles, pigmentation, and hematopoiesis processes. Additionally, we conducted differential gene expression analyzes between the snout region and a control tissue sample (muscle), identifying 96 differentially expressed genes associated with cell-surface-bound and calcium-binding proteins. Our study offers insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying cave adaptation in characiform fishes, particularly the Brazilian blind characid. Moreover, our transcriptome dataset and list of genes under convergent, relaxed, and intensified selection serve as a valuable resource for future functional studies of genes involved in cave adaptation. Our work highlights the importance of examining genetic adaptations in multiple independent lineages to better understand the evolutionary processes underlying cave adaptation.

The carnation is one of the most important products for export in the floriculture industry of Colombia. Fusariosis (a disease resulting from presence of Fusarium) appears on the crops in two forms: vascular wilt and basal rot. The first is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. dianthi, which is a well-characterized disease. The second, caused by Fusarium verticillioides (previously Fusarium roseum), is a non-characterized disease and its development in the plant has not been described in detail. The symptoms of basal rot were differentiated from vascular wilt, through infection of plants in the greenhouse, with isolates of F. verticillioides and F. oxysporum obtained from lesions of symptomatic plants. The fungi morphological characterization allowed differentiation of the isolates of these two species and their growth habits on different media. The sequencing of 8 different genes with more than 13 amplicons in the 2 species showed genetic differences that grouped the isolates into different taxa. Multilocus sequence typing analysis using DNA sequences of 8 different genetic regions confirmed the presence of F. verticillioides. In this study, the role of F. verticillioides was demonstrated in the stems of carnation in commercial crops that presented pathogenic lesions. According to the results of the study, F. verticillioides is the etiological agent that produces the basal rotting in carnation plants, alone or in association with F. oxysporum.