Adaptive evolution of gene expression in Antarctic fishes: Divergent transcription of the 5'-to-5' linked adult (alpha)1- and (beta)-globin genes of the Antarctic teleost

Unlike temperate fishes, Antarctic fishes of the notothenioid suborder, whose body temperatures (-2 to +1degreeC) conform to the Southern Ocean, must express their genomes in an extremely cold thermal regime. To determine whether these fishes have evolved compensatory adjustments that maintain efficient gene transcription at low temperatures, we have initiated studies of the cis-acting regulatory elements that control globin gene expression in the Antarctic rockcod Notothenia coriiceps and in its close relative, the temperate New Zealand black cod N. angustata (habitat temperature = +6 to +15degreeC).