The use of genome-scale data to infer phylogenetic relationships has gained in popularity in recent years due to the progress made in target-gene capture and sequencing techniques. Data filtering, the approach of excluding data inconsistent with the model from analyses, presumably could alleviate problems caused by systematic errors in phylogenetic inference. Different data filtering criteria, such as those based on evolutionary rate and molecular clocklikeness as well as others have been proposed for selecting useful phylogenetic markers, yet few studies have tested these criteria using phylogenomic data. We developed a novel set of single-copy nuclear coding markers to capture thousands of target genes in gobioid fishes, a species-rich lineages of vertebrates, and tested the effects of data-filtering methods based on substitution rate and molecular clocklikeness while attempting to control for the compounding effects of missing data and variation in locus length. We found that molecular clocklikeness was a better predictor than overall substitution rate for phylogenetic usefulness of molecular markers in our study. In addition, when the 100 best ranked loci for our predictors were concatenated and analyzed using maximum likelihood, or combined in a coalescent-based species-tree analysis, the resulting trees showed a well-resolved topology of Gobioidei that mostly agrees with previous studies. However, trees generated from the 100 least clocklike frequently recovered conflicting, and in some cases clearly erroneous topologies with strong support, thus indicating strong systematic biases in those datasets. Collectively these results suggest that data filtering has the potential improve the performance of phylogenetic inference when using both a concatenation approach as well as methods that rely on input from individual gene trees (i.e. coalescent species-tree approaches), which may be preferred in scenarios where incomplete lineage sorting is likely to be an issue.

Within many biomes, the cause of phylogeographic structure remains unknown even across regions throughout North America, including within the biodiverse Chihuahuan Desert. For example, little is known about population structure or the diming of diversification of Chihuahuan endemics. In part, this is due largely to the lack of population genomic studies within this region. We generated ultra-conserved element data for the gray-banded kingsnake (Lampropeltis alterna) to investigate lineage divergence and historical demography across the Chihuahuan Desert. We found three unique lineages corresponding to the Trans-Pecos and Mapimian biogeographic regions of the Chihuahuan Desert, and a distinct population in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Using several different mutation rates to calibrate the timing of divergence among these lineages, we demonstrate that lineage divergence likely occurred during the Pleistocene. This also suggests that careful consideration needs to be used when applying mutation rates to ultra-conserved elements. We suggest that biogeographic provinces within the Chihuahuan Desert may have served as allopatric refugia during climatic fluctuations of the Quaternary. This work serves as an important template for further testing biogeographic hypotheses within the region.

Showing their stripes The adaptive radiation of East African cichlids has led to more than 1200 species across a number of lakes. Across these species, many convergent traits have emerged, including the presence or absence of horizontal stripes. Kratochwil et al. show that the appearance or loss of stripes is related to changes in the agouti-related peptide 2 gene, which acts as a kind of on-off switch for stripe generation (see the Perspective by Gante). This action has enabled rapid and repeated evolution of stripes across this speciose radiation. Science, this issue p. 457; see also p. 396 The color patterns of African cichlid fishes provide notable examples of phenotypic convergence. Across the more than 1200 East African rift lake species, melanic horizontal stripes have evolved numerous times. We discovered that regulatory changes of the gene agouti-related peptide 2 (agrp2) act as molecular switches controlling this evolutionarily labile phenotype. Reduced agrp2 expression is convergently associated with the presence of stripe patterns across species flocks. However, cis-regulatory mutations are not predictive of stripes across radiations, suggesting independent regulatory mechanisms. Genetic mapping confirms the link between the agrp2 locus and stripe patterns. The crucial role of agrp2 is further supported by a CRISPR-Cas9 knockout that reconstitutes stripes in a nonstriped cichlid. Thus, we unveil how a single gene affects the convergent evolution of a complex color pattern. A genetic switch that can turn horizontal stripe production on or off in East African cichlids is dissected. A genetic switch that can turn horizontal stripe production on or off in East African cichlids is dissected.