Marko Terzin, Adriana Villamor, Lorenzo Marincich, Kenan Matterson, Maria Grazia Paletta, Valentina Bertuccio, Giorgio Bavestrello, Lisandro Benedetti Cecchi, Elisa Boscari, Carlo Cerrano, Giovanni Chimienti, Leonardo Congiu, Simonetta Fraschetti, Francesco Mastrototaro, Massimo Ponti, Roberto Sandulli, Eva Turicchia, Lorenzo Zane, Marco Abbiati, Federica Costantini
{"title":"2bRAD reveals fine-scale genetic structuring among populations within the Mediterranean zoanthid Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt, 1862)","authors":"Marko Terzin, Adriana Villamor, Lorenzo Marincich, Kenan Matterson, Maria Grazia Paletta, Valentina Bertuccio, Giorgio Bavestrello, Lisandro Benedetti Cecchi, Elisa Boscari, Carlo Cerrano, Giovanni Chimienti, Leonardo Congiu, Simonetta Fraschetti, Francesco Mastrototaro, Massimo Ponti, Roberto Sandulli, Eva Turicchia, Lorenzo Zane, Marco Abbiati, Federica Costantini","doi":"10.1007/s00338-023-02456-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The zoanthid <i>Parazoanthus axinellae</i> (Schmidt, 1862) is a widespread coral species in the Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages where two morphotypes are found: Slender and Stocky, differing in size, color, and preferred substrate. Due to these marked differences, Slender and Stocky morphotypes were hypothesized to be two species. Here, we used 2bRAD to obtain genome‐wide genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to investigate the genetic differentiation between Slender and Stocky morphs, as well as their population structure. A total of 101 specimens of <i>P. axinellae</i> were sampled and genotyped from eight locations along the Italian coastline. In four locations, samples of the two morphotypes were collected in sympatry. 2bRAD genome-wide SNPs were used to assess the genetic divergence between the two morphotypes (1319 SNPs), and population connectivity patterns within Slender (1926 SNPs) and Stocky (1871 SNPs) morphotypes. Marked and consistent differentiation was detected between Slender and Stocky morphotypes. The widely distributed Slender morphotype showed higher population mixing patterns, while populations of the Stocky morphotype exhibited a stronger genetic structure at a regional scale. The strong genetic differentiation observed between <i>P. axinellae</i> Slender and Stocky morphotypes provides additional evidence that these morphs could be attributed to different species, although further morphological and ecological studies are required to validate this hypothesis. Our study highlights the importance of resolving phylogenetic and taxonomic disparities within taxonomically problematic groups, such as the <i>P. axinellae</i> species complex, when performing genetic connectivity studies for management and conservation purposes.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical Abstract</h3><p>Schematic overview of the main genetic structuring patterns observed in this study. Coral polyps were colored to intuitively associate the reader to <i>Parazoanthus axinellae</i> morphotypes, with orange tones being attributed to the Stocky morphotype, and yellow tones to the Slender morphotype. Bidirectional arrows represent gene flow between coral individuals, with the number and thickness of arrows corresponding to the intensity of gene flow rates. The red dashed line represents the potential reproductive isolation between Slender and Stocky morphs</p>\n","PeriodicalId":10821,"journal":{"name":"Coral Reefs","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Coral Reefs","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02456-7","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The zoanthid Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt, 1862) is a widespread coral species in the Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages where two morphotypes are found: Slender and Stocky, differing in size, color, and preferred substrate. Due to these marked differences, Slender and Stocky morphotypes were hypothesized to be two species. Here, we used 2bRAD to obtain genome‐wide genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to investigate the genetic differentiation between Slender and Stocky morphs, as well as their population structure. A total of 101 specimens of P. axinellae were sampled and genotyped from eight locations along the Italian coastline. In four locations, samples of the two morphotypes were collected in sympatry. 2bRAD genome-wide SNPs were used to assess the genetic divergence between the two morphotypes (1319 SNPs), and population connectivity patterns within Slender (1926 SNPs) and Stocky (1871 SNPs) morphotypes. Marked and consistent differentiation was detected between Slender and Stocky morphotypes. The widely distributed Slender morphotype showed higher population mixing patterns, while populations of the Stocky morphotype exhibited a stronger genetic structure at a regional scale. The strong genetic differentiation observed between P. axinellae Slender and Stocky morphotypes provides additional evidence that these morphs could be attributed to different species, although further morphological and ecological studies are required to validate this hypothesis. Our study highlights the importance of resolving phylogenetic and taxonomic disparities within taxonomically problematic groups, such as the P. axinellae species complex, when performing genetic connectivity studies for management and conservation purposes.
Graphical Abstract
Schematic overview of the main genetic structuring patterns observed in this study. Coral polyps were colored to intuitively associate the reader to Parazoanthus axinellae morphotypes, with orange tones being attributed to the Stocky morphotype, and yellow tones to the Slender morphotype. Bidirectional arrows represent gene flow between coral individuals, with the number and thickness of arrows corresponding to the intensity of gene flow rates. The red dashed line represents the potential reproductive isolation between Slender and Stocky morphs
期刊介绍：
Coral Reefs, the Journal of the International Coral Reef Society, presents multidisciplinary literature across the broad fields of reef studies, publishing analytical and theoretical papers on both modern and ancient reefs. These encourage the search for theories about reef structure and dynamics, and the use of experimentation, modeling, quantification and the applied sciences.
Coverage includes such subject areas as population dynamics; community ecology of reef organisms; energy and nutrient flows; biogeochemical cycles; physiology of calcification; reef responses to natural and anthropogenic influences; stress markers in reef organisms; behavioural ecology; sedimentology; diagenesis; reef structure and morphology; evolutionary ecology of the reef biota; palaeoceanography of coral reefs and coral islands; reef management and its underlying disciplines; molecular biology and genetics of coral; aetiology of disease in reef-related organisms; reef responses to global change, and more.
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