[Coral-List] Molecular markers for Siderastrea spp.

[Zac Forsman]

Hi Katie & list,
    I cloned and sequenced the ITS region for 2 S. radians  
individuals from Bocas del Toro Panama, and one individual from  
Brazil (3 clones each, sequenced in both directions).   There were  
only 2 fixed nt differences between the species.  The ITS region is a  
multi-copy locus, and multiple copies can occur within an individual,  
or within a species... so it would be very interesting to see if  
these differences hold between samples in Florida.  I've been working  
on some quick and easy assays that might work for this, so contact me  
for details...  There are also some mtDNA primers that might work in  
Siderastrea.   Mitochondrial DNA is very slow and conserved in  
Anthazoa, but it might be worth a try.

For more information on the Siderastrea ITS work, see (pdfs: http:// 
www2.hawaii.edu/~zac/) :

Z.H. Forsman, H.M. Guzman, C.A. Chen,G.E. Fox, G.M. Wellington (2005) 
An ITS Region Phylogeny of Siderastrea (CNIDARIA:ANTHOZOA);is S.  
glynni endangered or introduced?.  Coral Reefs 24: 343-347

Z.H. Forsman, G.M. Wellington, C.L. Hunter, G.E. Fox (2006)  Is The  
ITS Region The Solution to The ‘Species Problem’ in corals?  
Intragenomic Variation, and Alignment Permutation in Porites,  
Siderastrea and Outgroup Taxa.  . 10Int. Coral Reef Symp.;14-23


Also see:

Shearer TL, van Oppen MJ, Romano SL, Worheide G
(2002) Slow mitochondrial DNA sequence evolution
in the Anthozoa (Cnidaria). Mol Ecol 12:2475-87




On Oct 27, 2006, at 11:46 AM, Katie Chartrand wrote:

>   I am wondering if anyone is aware of or has developed molecular  
> markers to identify Siderastrea siderea and S. radians? I am seeing  
> quite a bit of variability in corallite morphology in colonies from  
> Florida Bay making it difficult to ensure correct taxonomical  
> identification. I of course  don't want to call anyone by the wrong  
> name! Any help with markers or other suggestions would be greatly  
> appreciated.
>
>   Cheers,
>
>   Katie
>
>   Kathryn M. Chartrand
>   Department of Biology and Marine Biology
>     University of North Carolina - Wilmington
>   Center for Marine Science
>   5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
>   Wilmington, NC  28409
>
>   email: chartrkm at yahoo.com, kmc6526 at uncw.edu
>   phone: (402)216-4553
>
>
>
>
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Zac Forsman, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Biology
2450 Campus Rd.
Honolulu HI, 96822
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~zac/