[Coral-List] new paper: corals do have a segregated germline

Mikhail Matz matz at utexas.edu
Thu Jan 14 13:23:39 EST 2016


Dear colleagues - 

Our new paper just came out, where we show that in a long-lived coral Orbicella faveolata somatic mutations are never transmitted to gametes. This suggests that, contrary to the current belief, [at least some] corals do possess a segregated germline so that their somatic mutation do not contribute to genetic diversity in coral populations. 

This finding also has implications for heritability of epigenetic marks in corals: with a segregated germline, transgenerational inheritance of epigenetic marks is just as unlikely as in any bilaterian animal.

Here is the link to the journal’s page:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1822/20152128

PDF to download: http://bit.ly/1US7P5i 

Sarah Barfield
Mikhail Matz
UT Austin


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