Journal
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
Volume 3, Issue 5, Pages 823-833Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0864-8
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Funding
- Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB060101, XDB13020100]
- Talents Team Construction Fund of Northwestern Polytechnical University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41876179, 31601858]
- National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals
- National Key R&D Program of China [2018YFC0309800]
- Hong Kong Research Grants Council Area of Excellence Scheme [AoE/M-403/16]
- 1000 Talent Project of Shaanxi Province
- Wuhan Branch of the Supercomputing Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
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It is largely unknown how living organisms-especially vertebrates-survive and thrive in the coldness, darkness and high pressures of the hadal zone. Here, we describe the unique morphology and genome of Pseudoliparis swirei-a recently described snailfish species living below a depth of 6,000 m in the Mariana Trench. Unlike closely related shallow sea species, P. swirei has transparent, unpigmented skin and scales, thin and incompletely ossified bones, an inflated stomach and a non-closed skull. Phylogenetic analyses show that P. swirei diverged from a close relative living near the sea surface about 20 million years ago and has abundant genetic diversity. Genomic analyses reveal that: (1) the bone Gla protein (bglap) gene has a frameshift mutation that may cause early termination of cartilage calcification; (2) cell membrane fluidity and transport protein activity in P. swirei may have been enhanced by changes in protein sequences and gene expansion; and (3) the stability of its proteins may have been increased by critical mutations in the trimethylamine N-oxide-synthesizing enzyme and hsp90 chaperone protein. Our results provide insights into the morphological, physiological and molecular evolution of hadal vertebrates.
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