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

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 compri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2013-03, Vol.3 (1), p.1520-1520, Article 1520
Main Authors: Keshavmurthy, Shashank, Yang, Sung-Yin, Alamaru, Ada, Chuang, Yao-Yang, Pichon, Michel, Obura, David, Fontana, Silvia, De Palmas, Stephane, Stefani, Fabrizio, Benzoni, Francesca, MacDonald, Angus, Noreen, Annika M E, Chen, Chienshun, Wallace, Carden C, Pillay, Ruby Moothein, Denis, Vianney, Amri, Affendi Yang, Reimer, James D, Mezaki, Takuma, Sheppard, Charles, Loya, Yossi, Abelson, Avidor, Mohammed, Mohammed Suleiman, Baker, Andrew C, Mostafavi, Pargol Ghavam, Suharsono, Budiyanto A, Chen, Chaolun Allen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anthozoa - genetics
Biodiversity
Coral reefs
Corals
Cytochrome oxidase I
DNA barcoding
DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
Electron Transport Complex IV - genetics
Genetic diversity
Genetic Variation
Laboratories
Life sciences
Marine biology
Oceanography
Phenotypic plasticity
Phylogeny
R&D
Reference Standards
Research & development
Species Specificity
Stylophora pistillata
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep01520