Large inversions in Lake Malawi cichlids are associated with habitat, lineage, and sex determination.

Long-read sequencing identified four single and two tandem chromosomal inversions spanning half of each chromosome and together covering over 10% of the Lake Malawi cichlid genome.

• Why it matters: Large inversions can lock together multiple alleles, but their roles in Lake Malawi cichlid adaptive radiation—across habitats, lineages, and sex determination—remain unclear.
• What they did: The study used long-read technologies to map six large inversions and then compared their frequencies across seven major ecogroups and benthic sub-radiations, including XY-linked patterns.
• The result: Inversions are fixed in one state within most ecogroups, with exceptions in benthic lineages, and some are linked to XY sex-determination systems, implying selection shaped diversification.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.