Studying how different genotypes respond to environmental variation is essential to understand the genetic basis of adaptation. The Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, has cave and surface‐dwelling morphotypes that have adapted to entirely different environments in the wild, and are now successfully maintained in lab conditions. While this has enabled the identification of genetic adaptations underlying a variety of physiological processes, few studies have directly compared morphotypes between lab‐reared and natural populations. Such comparative approaches could help dissect the varying effects of environment and morphotype, and determine the extent to which phenomena observed in the lab are generalizable to conditions in the field. To this end, we take a transcriptomic approach to compare the Pachón cavefish and their surface fish counterparts in their natural habitats and the lab environment. We identify key changes in expression of genes implicated in metabolism and physiology between groups of fish, suggesting that morphotype (surface or cave) and environment (natural or lab) both alter gene expression. We find gene expression differences between cave and surface fish in their natural habitats are much larger than differences in expression between morphotypes in the lab environment. However, lab‐raised cave and surface fish still exhibit numerous gene expression changes, supporting genetically encoded changes in livers of this species. From this, we conclude that a controlled laboratory environment may serve as an ideal setting to study the genetic underpinnings of metabolic and physiological differences between the cavefish and surface fish.

中文翻译：

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野生和实验室的墨西哥Astyanax种群的比较转录组分析发现环境和形态对基因表达的不同影响。

研究不同基因型如何响应环境变化对于理解适应的遗传基础至关重要。墨西哥四胞胎，墨西哥Astyanax，具有适应于野外完全不同环境的洞穴和地表形态，现在已经在实验室条件下成功保持。尽管这可以识别出各种生理过程的遗传适应，但很少有研究直接比较实验室饲养的种群和自然种群之间的形态。这种比较方法可以帮助剖析环境和形态类型的不同影响，并确定在实验室中观察到的现象在多大程度上可以推广到现场条件。为此，我们采用转录组学的方法在自然栖息地和实验室环境中比较了Pachón穴居鱼类和其表层鱼类。我们确定了鱼类之间代谢和生理相关的基因表达的关键变化，这表明形态（表面或洞穴）和环境（自然或实验室）都会改变基因表达。我们发现洞穴和表层鱼类在其自然栖息地之间的基因表达差异远大于实验室环境中形态型之间的表达差异。但是，实验室饲养的洞穴和表层鱼类仍表现出许多基因表达变化，支持该物种肝脏的基因编码变化。由此得出的结论是，受控的实验室环境可能是研究穴居鱼类和表层鱼类代谢和生理差异的遗传基础的理想环境。我们发现洞穴和表层鱼类在其自然栖息地之间的基因表达差异远大于实验室环境中形态型之间的表达差异。但是，实验室饲养的洞穴和表层鱼类仍表现出许多基因表达变化，支持该物种肝脏的基因编码变化。由此得出的结论是，受控的实验室环境可能是研究穴居鱼类和表层鱼类代谢和生理差异的遗传基础的理想环境。我们发现洞穴和表层鱼类在其自然栖息地之间的基因表达差异远大于实验室环境中形态型之间的表达差异。但是，实验室饲养的洞穴和表层鱼类仍表现出许多基因表达变化，支持该物种肝脏的基因编码变化。由此得出的结论是，受控的实验室环境可能是研究穴居鱼类和表层鱼类代谢和生理差异的遗传基础的理想环境。