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Letter

Nature Genetics 38, 107–111 (1 January 2006) | doi:10.1038/ng1700

Genetic analysis of cavefish reveals molecular convergence in the evolution of albinism

Meredith E Protas , Candace Hersey , Dawn Kochanek , Yi Zhou , Horst Wilkens , William R Jeffery , Leonard I Zon , Richard Borowsky & Clifford J Tabin

The genetic basis of vertebrate morphological evolution has traditionally been very difficult to examine in naturally occurring populations. Here we describe the generation of a genome-wide linkage map to allow quantitative trait analysis of evolutionarily derived morphologies in the Mexican cave tetra, a species that has, in a series of independent caves, repeatedly evolved specialized characteristics adapted to a unique and well-studied ecological environment.