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 comprises four d...

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Published in:	Scientific reports Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 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:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 22-03-2013 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	631/158/857 631/181/759/2467 631/208/182 704/106/829/826 Animals Anthozoa - genetics Biodiversity Coral reefs Corals Cytochrome oxidase I DNA barcoding DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic Electron Transport Complex IV - genetics Genetic diversity Genetic Variation Humanities and Social Sciences Laboratories Life sciences Marine biology multidisciplinary Oceanography Phenotypic plasticity Phylogeny R&D Reference Standards Research & development Science 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.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322
DOI:	10.1038/srep01520