Genetic divergence and range expansion in a western North Pacific coral

Fifer, James E.; Yasuda, Nina; Yamakita, Takehisa; Bove, Colleen B.; Davies, Sarah W.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152423

Cited by 32 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…Therefore, while it is unclear whether these migrations occur directly or indirectly, genetic features of A. digitifera corals from southern locations have been supplied to the northernmost locations in the Nansei Islands by the Kuroshio, making both ends of the region genetically similar. Moreover, we observed several traces of northward migration in population structure analyses, such as presumed first‐generation immigrants from the Yaeyama Islands to the Kerama Islands and Okinawa Islands, and the stronger overall tendency of northward migration than southward migration, which is concordant with previous studies (Fifer et al, 2022; Figure 4b).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Genomic analysis of a reef‐building coral, Acropora digitifera, reveals complex population structure and a migration network in the Nansei Islands, Japan

et al. 2022

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Understanding the structure and connectivity of coral populations is fundamental for developing marine conservation policies, especially in patchy environments such as archipelagos. The Nansei Islands, extending more than 1000 km in southwestern Japan, are characterized by high levels of biodiversity and endemism, supported by coral reefs, which make this region ideal for assessing genetic attributes of coral populations. In this study, we conducted population genomic analyses based on genome‐wide, single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Acropora digitifera, a common species in the Nansei Islands. By merging newly obtained genome resequencing data with previously published data, we identified more than 4 million genome‐wide SNPs in 303 colonies collected at 22 locations, with sequencing coverage ranging from 3.91× to 27.41×. While population structure analyses revealed genetic similarities between the southernmost and northernmost locations, separated by >1000 km, several subpopulations in intermediate locations suggested limited genetic admixture, indicating conflicting migration tendencies in the Nansei Islands. Although migration networks revealed a general tendency of northward migration along the Kuroshio Current, a substantial amount of southward migration was also detected, indicating important contributions of minor ocean currents to coral larval dispersal. Moreover, heterogeneity in the transition of effective population sizes among locations suggests different histories for individual subpopulations. The unexpected complexity of both past and present population dynamics in the Nansei Islands implies that heterogeneity of ocean currents and local environments, past and present, have influenced the population structure of this species, and similar unexpected population complexities may be expected for other marine species with similar reproductive modes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Genomic analysis of a reef‐building coral, Acropora digitifera, reveals complex population structure and a migration network in the Nansei Islands, Japan

et al. 2022

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“…Similarly, genomic sequencing has facilitated further identification of sibling species (i.e., cryptic species) within previously presumed coral species (Bickford et al 2007). Cryptic speciation is a well-known phenomenon in corals (Knowlton 1993;Prada and Hellberg 2013;Forsman et al 2020;Fifer et al 2022); however, recent work suggests that these cryptic lineages may exhibit differential responses to global change (Gómez-Corrales and Prada 2020) and host unique algal communities (Rose et al 2021). While coral genetic diversity may not always directly predict phenotypic diversity, phenotypic variation can be heritable (i.e., narrow-sense heritability, h 2 ) across various coral traits (Bairos-Novak et al 2021), including thermal tolerance (Dixon et al 2015), settlement responsiveness (Meyer et al 2011), calcification (Jury et al 2019), and growth (Kenkel et al 2015).…”

Section: Host Genetic Diversity and Its Influence On Holobiont Phenotypementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In tropical, oligotrophic waters, these symbiotic algae provide essential organic byproducts to the host from photosynthesis (Muscatine and Cernichiari 1969). Algal symbiont diversity has become better appreciated thanks to molecular genetics approaches (reviewed in Quigley et al 2018;Davies et al 2022) and wholegenome datasets (Dougan et al 2022), which have resulted in taxonomic revisions (LaJeunesse et al 2018(LaJeunesse et al , 2021Nitschke et al 2020;Pochon and LaJeunesse 2021). However, how this genetic variation predicts functional variation remains an open question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help Me, Symbionts, You’re My Only Hope: Approaches to Accelerate Our Understanding of Coral Holobiont Interactions

Bove¹,

Ingersoll²,

Davies³

2022

Preprint

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Tropical corals construct the three-dimensional framework for one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, providing habitat to a plethora of species across taxa. However, these ecosystem engineers are facing unprecedented challenges, such as increasing disease prevalence and marine heatwaves associated with anthropogenic global change. As a result, major declines in coral cover and health are being observed across the world's oceans, often due to the breakdown of coral-associated symbioses. Here, we review the interactions between the major symbiotic partners of the coral holobiont – the cnidarian host, algae in the family Symbiodiniaceae, and the microbiome – that influence trait variation, including the molecular mechanisms that underlie symbiosis and the resulting physiological benefits of different microbial partnerships. In doing so, we highlight the current framework for the formation and maintenance of cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis, and the role that immunity pathways play in this relationship. We emphasize that understanding these complex interactions is challenging when you consider the vast genetic variation of the cnidarian host and algal symbiont, as well as their highly diverse microbiome, which is also an important player in coral holobiont health. Given the complex interactions between and among symbiotic partners, we propose several research directions and approaches focused on symbiosis model systems and emerging technologies that will broaden our understanding of how these partner interactions may facilitate the prediction of coral holobiont phenotype, especially under rapid environmental change.

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“…A potentially more substantive issue is the time needed to do the coral stress treatments prior to gathering the PAM data. Regardless of the approach taken, the standing genetic variation of coral animals, combined with their complex biotic interactions with the microbiome under fluctuating environmental conditions will produce a panoply of holobiont responses that may prove difficult to summarize using one or a few stress markers 7 – 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a portable toolkit to diagnose coral thermal stress

Meng

Williams

Liau

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Coral bleaching, precipitated by the expulsion of the algal symbionts that provide colonies with fixed carbon is a global threat to reef survival. To protect corals from anthropogenic stress, portable tools are needed to detect and diagnose stress syndromes and assess population health prior to extensive bleaching. Here, medical grade Urinalysis strips, used to detect an array of disease markers in humans, were tested on the lab stressed Hawaiian coral species, Montipora capitata (stress resistant) and Pocillopora acuta (stress sensitive), as well as samples from nature that also included Porites compressa. Of the 10 diagnostic reagent tests on these strips, two appear most applicable to corals: ketone and leukocytes. The test strip results from M. capitata were explored using existing transcriptomic data from the same samples and provided evidence of the stress syndromes detected by the strips. We designed a 3D printed smartphone holder and image processing software for field analysis of test strips (TestStripDX) and devised a simple strategy to generate color scores for corals (reflecting extent of bleaching) using a smartphone camera (CoralDX). Our approaches provide field deployable methods, that can be improved in the future (e.g., coral-specific stress test strips) to assess reef health using inexpensive tools and freely available software.

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Genetic divergence and range expansion in a western North Pacific coral

Cited by 32 publications

References 94 publications

Genomic analysis of a reef‐building coral, Acropora digitifera, reveals complex population structure and a migration network in the Nansei Islands, Japan

Genomic analysis of a reef‐building coral, Acropora digitifera, reveals complex population structure and a migration network in the Nansei Islands, Japan

Help Me, Symbionts, You’re My Only Hope: Approaches to Accelerate Our Understanding of Coral Holobiont Interactions

Development of a portable toolkit to diagnose coral thermal stress

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