The role of sex determination in an adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes

This thesis aims to expose a more detailed understanding of the intricate sex determination systems found in Lake Tanganyika cichlid species using bioinformatic tools, aiming to depict the role that sex determination has had in the explosive adaptive radiation of the LT cichlid fishes. The thesis is organized in two main parts: Part one is focused on expression data (RNA sequencing) and the characterization of sexual dimorphism, genomic differences between males and females and sex chromosome turnovers across members of the entire LT cichlid radiation and a group of LT cichlid fishes. Part two describes in more detail the sex determination system of the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni in natural populations and in the developmental stages of a laboratory strain.