A rapid genetic assay for the identification of the most common Pocillopora damicornis genetic lineages on the Great Barrier Reef

PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58447. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058447. Epub 2013 Mar 7.

Abstract

Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758; Scleractinia, Pocilloporidae) has recently been found to comprise at least five distinct genetic lineages in Eastern Australia, some of which likely represent cryptic species. Due to similar and plastic gross morphology of these lineages, field identification is often difficult. Here we present a quick, cost effective genetic assay as well as three novel microsatellite markers that distinguish the two most common lineages found on the Great Barrier Reef. The assay is based on PCR amplification of two regions within the mitochondrial putative control region, which show consistent and easily identifiable fragment size differences for the two genetic lineages after Alu1 restriction enzyme digestion of the amplicons.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anthozoa / genetics*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial
  • Genetic Linkage*
  • Genetic Testing
  • Genotype
  • Microsatellite Repeats
  • Sequence Deletion

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

This work has been funded by the Australian Government’s Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Fund (MTSRF), and AIMS@JCU, a collaborative scheme between the Australian Institute for Marine Science and James Cook University. G.T. is supported by the James Cook University Postgraduate Research Scholarship, and both G.T. and S.S-R. are supported by an Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.