mtDNA recombination indicative of hybridization suggests a role of the mitogenome in the adaptation of reef-building corals to extreme environments

Abstract

23 24 mtDNA recombination following hybridization is rarely found in animals and was never until 25

Computational Characterization of the mtORF of Pocilloporid Corals: Insights into Protein Structure and Function in Stylophora Lineages from Contrasting Environments

“…Furthermore, in RS_LinB , the mtORF uncovered the existence of two well-differentiated populations restricted respectively to the colder northern regions or to the warmer central-southern Red Sea. The same phylogeographic pattern was observed for the hsp70 gene [15], which encodes a heat-shock protein well known for its role in stress response and climatic adaptation [36,37,38,39,40]. Results from Banguera-Hinestroza et al [15] therefore suggest that the mtORF as well as hsp70 may have both been involved in the adaptation of the ancestral and endemic Stylophora lineage to the different environmental regimes of the Red Sea, including extremely warm conditions in the Southern region.…”

“…This mtORF gene has been useful for the delimitation of species within Pocillopora [10,11] and has allowed the identification of cryptic species and of fine-scale genetic structure in Seriatopora [12,13,14]. Furthermore, it has revealed strong phylogenetic and phylogeographic patterns in Stylophora [15,16]. This indicates that in contrast to the absence of highly variable mtDNA genes in most corals [17,18], the mtORF may be a suitable mitochondrial barcode gene for pocilloporids [9,11], revealing genetic variation useful for distinguishing lineages evolving under different environmental conditions.…”

“…The involvement of mtDNA genes in adaptation to the environment and in speciation seems to be supported by the evolutionary patterns revealed by the mtORF barcode gene in the genus Stylophora . In 2018, Banguera-Hinestroza et al [15] analyzed 827 samples of Stylophora covering a broad geographical range of this genus, including the full latitudinal (12 degrees of latitude) and environmental gradients of the Red Sea. They found a high number of mutational changes in the mtORF as well as in its adjacent genes nd6 and atp6 .…”

“…As a second step, we carried out a whole mitogenome comparative analysis to identify the first appearance of this mtORF in the evolutionary history of scleractinian corals, and used computational methods [57,58,59,60] to analyze its structure and function in Madracis , Pocillopora, Seriatopora , and Stylophora , including the two Stylophora lineages previously identified in the Red Sea [15]. Computational methods have been shown to predict reliably protein structure and function in non-model organisms [61].…”

Characterization of the mitochondrial genomes of two toads, Anaxyrus americanus (Anura: Bufonidae) and Bufotes pewzowi (Anura: Bufonidae), with phylogenetic and selection pressure analyses

“…L. melanonotus and P. microps are distributed near the equator, where temperatures are relatively high. More research is needed to reach definitive conclusions about low or high temperature positive selections in mitochondrial genes (e.g., Banguera-Hinestroza et al, 2018;Ben Slimen et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2018b;Zhou et al, 2014). According to this evidence, we can hypothesize that residue aspartic acid (D, 119) in the ND6 protein of A. americanus may be related to temperature adjustment and in different anurans may be under different climate-linked selection.…”