Cave-adapted populations of the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, have dysregulated blood glucose homeostasis and are insulin-resistant compared to river-adapted (‘surface’) populations. We found that multiple cave populations, including those inhabiting the Tinaja and Pachón caves, carry a mutation in the insulin receptor that leads to decreased insulin binding in vitro and contributes to hyperglycaemia. As part of the analysis that led to this conclusion, we measured fasting blood glucose levels in F2 fish derived from a cross between a surface fish homozygous for the ancestral insulin receptor allele and a cavefish homozygous for the derived allele, allowing us to correlate inheritance of the mutation with inheritance of glucose dysregulation. In this Article, we inadvertently indicated that the cavefish grandparent used in this cross was descended from the Tinaja population. However, subsequent analysis has definitively indicated that this individual actually belongs to the Pachón population. However, as both the Tinaja and Pachón populations carry the same P211L mutation in the insulin receptor, the logic of the experiment, the genotype–phenotype correlation we observed, and the conclusions of the study remain unchanged. Everything in the manuscript is still accurate, other than the name of the cave in the second and third paragraphs on page 649 of the PDF version of the original Article and in Fig. 3b and its legend. This error has not been corrected online.
Source: Ecology - nature.com
