Publication Cover
Mitochondrial DNA Part A
DNA Mapping, Sequencing, and Analysis
Volume 30, 2019 - Issue 1
160
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Extensive sharing of mitochondrial COI and CYB haplotypes among reef-building staghorn corals (Acropora spp.) in Sabah, North Borneo

, , & ORCID Icon
Pages 16-23 | Received 03 Nov 2017, Accepted 25 Feb 2018, Published online: 09 Mar 2018
 

Abstract

This study is aimed at establishing a baseline on the genetic diversity of the Acropora corals of Sabah, North Borneo based on variations in the partial COI and CYB nucleotide sequences. Comparison across 50 shallow-water Acropora morphospecies indicated that the low substitution rates in the two genes were due to negative selection and that rate heterogeneity between them was asymmetric. CYB appeared to have evolved faster than COI in the Acropora as indicated by differences in the rate of pairwise genetic distance, degrees of transition bias (Ts/Tv), synonymous-to-nonsynonymous rate ratio (dN/dS), and substitution patterns at the three codon positions. Despite the relatively high haplotype diversity (Hd), nucleotide diversity (π) of the haplotype datasets was low due to stringent purifying selection operating on the genes. Subsequently, we identified individual COI and CYB haplotypes that were each extensively shared across sympatrically and allopatrically distributed Indo-Pacific Acropora. These reciprocally common mtDNA types were suspected to be ancestral forms of the genes whereas other haplotypes have mostly evolved from autoapomorphic mutations which have not been fixed within the species even though they are selectively neutral. To our knowledge, this is the first report on DNA barcodes of Acropora species in North Borneo and this understanding will play an important role in the management and conservation of these important reef-building corals.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Zac Forsman for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Sabah State Government for the Discovery of the Next Generation of Fluorescent Proteins (GL00110).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 6,822.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.