Symbiodinium spp. associated with scleractinian corals from Dongsha Atoll (Pratas), Taiwan, in the South China Sea

Shashank Keshavmurthy; Kuo-Hsun Tang; Chia-Min Hsu; Chai-Hsia Gan; Chao-Yang Kuo; Keryea Soong; Hong-Nong Chou; Chaolun Allen Chen

doi:10.7717/peerj.2871

Symbiodinium spp. associated with scleractinian corals from Dongsha Atoll (Pratas), Taiwan, in the South China Sea

PeerJ. 2017 Jan 18:5:e2871. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2871. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Shashank Keshavmurthy¹, Kuo-Hsun Tang², Chia-Min Hsu¹, Chai-Hsia Gan¹, Chao-Yang Kuo³, Keryea Soong⁴, Hong-Nong Chou⁵, Chaolun Allen Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica , Taipei , Taiwan.
² Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Fisheries Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Department of Oceanography, Dongsha Atoll Research Station, National Sun Yat-Sen University , Kaohsuing , Taiwan.
⁵ Institute of Fisheries Science, National Taiwan University , Taipei , Taiwan.
⁶ Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP)-Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Dongsha Atoll (also known as Pratas) in Taiwan is the northernmost atoll in the South China Sea and a designated marine national park since 2007. The marine park's scope of protection covers the bio-resources of its waters in addition to uplands, so it is important to have data logging information and analyses of marine flora and fauna, including their physiology, ecology, and genetics. As part of this effort, we investigated Symbiodinium associations in scleractinian corals from Dongsha Atoll through surveys carried out at two depth ranges (shallow, 1-5 m; and deep, 10-15 m) in 2009 and during a bleaching event in 2010. Symbiodinium composition was assessed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of 28S nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (nlsrDNA). Our results showed that the 796 coral samples from seven families and 20 genera collected in 2009 and 132 coral samples from seven families and 12 genera collected in 2010 were associated with Symbiodinium C, D and C+D. Occurrence of clade D in shallow water (24.5%) was higher compared to deep (14.9%). Due to a bleaching event in 2010, up to 80% of coral species associated with Symbiodinium C underwent moderate to severe bleaching. Using the fine resolution technique of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) in 175 randomly selected coral samples, from 2009 and 2010, eight Symbiodinium C types and two Symbiodinium D types were detected. This study is the first baseline survey on Symbiodinium associations in the corals of Dongsha Atoll in the South China Sea, and it shows the dominance of Symbiodinium clade C in the population.

Keywords: Dongsha Atoll; South China sea; Symbiodinium C; Symbiodinium association; Symbiodinium glynii; Symbiodinium trenchii.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by Dongsha Atoll Marine National Park (2009–2010) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (2016–2018, Grant No. 104-2621-B-001-010). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.