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DNA barcoding reveals the coral "laboratory-rat", Stylophora pistillata encompasses multiple identities.

ABSTRACT: Stylophora pistillata is a widely used coral "lab-rat" species with highly variable morphology and a broad biogeographic range (Red Sea to western central Pacific). Here we show, by analysing Cytochorme Oxidase I sequences, from 241 samples across this range, that this taxon in fact comprises four deeply divergent clades corresponding to the Pacific-Western Australia, Chagos-Madagascar-South Africa, Gulf of Aden-Zanzibar-Madagascar, and Red Sea-Persian/Arabian Gulf-Kenya. On the basis of the fossil record of Stylophora, these four clades diverged from one another 51.5-29.6?Mya, i.e., long before the closure of the Tethyan connection between the tropical Indo-West Pacific and Atlantic in the early Miocene (16-24?Mya) and should be recognised as four distinct species. These findings have implications for comparative ecological and/or physiological studies carried out using Stylophora pistillata as a model species, and highlight the fact that phenotypic plasticity, thought to be common in scleractinian corals, can mask significant genetic variation.

SUBMITTER: Keshavmurthy S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3605610 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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DNA barcoding reveals the coral "laboratory-rat", Stylophora pistillata encompasses multiple identities.

Keshavmurthy Shashank S Yang Sung-Yin SY Alamaru Ada A Chuang Yao-Yang YY Pichon Michel M Obura David D Fontana Silvia S De Palmas Stephane S Stefani Fabrizio F Benzoni Francesca F MacDonald Angus A Noreen Annika M E AM Chen Chienshun C Wallace Carden C CC Pillay Ruby Moothein RM Denis Vianney V Amri Affendi Yang AY Reimer James D JD Mezaki Takuma T Sheppard Charles C Loya Yossi Y Abelson Avidor A Mohammed Mohammed Suleiman MS Baker Andrew C AC Mostafavi Pargol Ghavam PG Suharsono Budiyanto A BA Chen Chaolun Allen CA

Scientific reports 20130101

Stylophora pistillata is a widely used coral "lab-rat" species with highly variable morphology and a broad biogeographic range (Red Sea to western central Pacific). Here we show, by analysing Cytochorme Oxidase I sequences, from 241 samples across this range, that this taxon in fact comprises four deeply divergent clades corresponding to the Pacific-Western Australia, Chagos-Madagascar-South Africa, Gulf of Aden-Zanzibar-Madagascar, and Red Sea-Persian/Arabian Gulf-Kenya. On the basis of the fos ...[more]

PMID: 23519209

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Project description:Energy sources of corals, ultimately sunlight and plankton availability, change dramatically from shallow to mesophotic (30-150 m) reefs. Depth-generalist corals, those that occupy both of these two distinct ecosystems, are adapted to cope with such extremely diverse conditions. In this study, we investigated the trophic strategy of the depth-generalist hermatypic coral Stylophora pistillata and the ability of mesophotic colonies to adapt to shallow reefs. We compared symbiont genera composition, photosynthetic traits and the holobiont trophic position and carbon sources, calculated from amino acids compound-specific stable isotope analysis (AA-CSIA), of shallow, mesophotic and translocated corals. This species harbors different Symbiodiniaceae genera at the two depths: Cladocopium goreaui (dominant in mesophotic colonies) and Symbiodinium microadriaticum (dominant in shallow colonies) with a limited change after transplantation. This allowed us to determine which traits stem from hosting different symbiont species compositions across the depth gradient. Calculation of holobiont trophic position based on amino acid δ15N revealed that heterotrophy represents the same portion of the total energy budget in both depths, in contrast to the dogma that predation is higher in corals growing in low light conditions. Photosynthesis is the major carbon source to corals growing at both depths, but the photosynthetic rate is higher in the shallow reef corals, implicating both higher energy consumption and higher predation rate in the shallow habitat. In the corals transplanted from deep to shallow reef, we observed extensive photo-acclimation by the Symbiodiniaceae cells, including substantial cellular morphological modifications, increased cellular chlorophyll a, lower antennae to photosystems ratios and carbon signature similar to the local shallow colonies. In contrast, non-photochemical quenching remains low and does not increase to cope with the high light regime of the shallow reef. Furthermore, host acclimation is much slower in these deep-to-shallow transplanted corals as evident from the lower trophic position and tissue density compared to the shallow-water corals, even after long-term transplantation (18 months). Our results suggest that while mesophotic reefs could serve as a potential refuge for shallow corals, the transition is complex, as even after a year and a half the acclimation is only partial.

Dataset Information

DNA barcoding reveals the coral "laboratory-rat", Stylophora pistillata encompasses multiple identities.

Publications

DNA barcoding reveals the coral "laboratory-rat", Stylophora pistillata encompasses multiple identities.

Similar Datasets

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