Genetic diversity and biogeographical patterns of Caulerpa prolifera across the Mediterranean and Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone

Elena Varela-Álvarez; Ana C. Balau; Núrià N. Marbà; Julio Afonso-Carrillo; Carlos M. Duarte; Ester Álvares Serrão

doi:10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5

Genetic diversity and biogeographical patterns of Caulerpa prolifera across the Mediterranean and Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone

Elena Varela-Álvarez, Ana C. Balau, Núrià N. Marbà, Julio Afonso-Carrillo, Carlos M. Duarte, Ester Álvares Serrão

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Knowledge of spatial patterns of genetic differentiation between populations is key to understanding processes in evolutionary history of biological species. Caulerpa is a genus of marine green algae, which has attracted much public attention, mainly because of the impacts of invasive species in the Mediterranean. However, very little is known about the ecological and evolutionary history of the Mediterranean native Caulerpa prolifera, a species which is currently found at sites distributed worldwide. C. prolifera provides a good model to explore the patterns of genetic diversity at different scales across the Mediterranean and Atlantic area. This study aims to investigate the biogeographical patterns of diversity and differentiation of C. prolifera in the Mediterranean, with special focus on the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone. We used two nuclear (ITS rDNA and the hypervariable microsatellite locus CaPr_J2) and one chloroplast (tufA) DNA markers on samples of C. prolifera from its entire range. Analyses of 51 sequences of the cpDNA tufA of C. prolifera, 87 ITS2 sequences and genotypes of 788 ramets of C. prolifera for the locus CaPr_J2 revealed three different biogeographical areas: West Atlantic, East Atlantic and a larger area representing the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone and a Pacific site (Bali). It was found out that the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone is a biogeographical boundary for C. prolifera. A lack of connectivity was revealed between Atlantic and Mediterranean types, and identical sequences found in the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific suggest either recent gene flow along the Red Sea connection or a possible ancient Indo-Pacific origin.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	557-569
Number of pages	13
Journal	Marine Biology
Volume	162
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5
State	Published - Jan 11 2015

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: We thank all the people and Institutions that collected plants and/or helped with the sampling collection: Liam Cronin, Ligia Collado-Vides, Gisela Dionisio, Elvira Alvarez, Rocio Santiago, Elena Diaz-Almela, Ricardo Bermejo, Fernando Ojeda Copete, Alexandra Cunha, Pablo Manent, Estibaliz Berecibar, Antonia Ribera-Siguan, Carolina Pena-Martin, Pablo Sanchez Jerez, Felio Lozano, Jacinto Barquin and Francisco Valdes; Natural Park of s'Albufera des Grau (Government of the Balearic Islands: http://www.balearsnatura.com/parc-natural-de-s-albufera-des-grau/equipamiento.html) and the Marine Reserve of Tabarca (Alicante). We also thank for the sequencing work Marta Valente and Cristina Paulino. Financial support for this study was provided by several research projects: CAULERPA_GENETICS (PTDC/MAR/70921/2006) by FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation) co-funded by FEDER and a postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/17206/2004) from FCT, Portugal, co-funded by FSE, both to EVA, EXCL/AAG-GLO/0661/2012 to ES, CAULEXPAN (Spanish Ministry of Education, REN2002-00701) to NM, MedVeg (EU contract no. Q5RS-2001-02456), PRADERAS by the Foundation BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) to CD.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Aquatic Science

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5

Cite this

@article{18cc994bcef0419c9d7b133ae4ab86b9,

title = "Genetic diversity and biogeographical patterns of Caulerpa prolifera across the Mediterranean and Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone",

abstract = "Knowledge of spatial patterns of genetic differentiation between populations is key to understanding processes in evolutionary history of biological species. Caulerpa is a genus of marine green algae, which has attracted much public attention, mainly because of the impacts of invasive species in the Mediterranean. However, very little is known about the ecological and evolutionary history of the Mediterranean native Caulerpa prolifera, a species which is currently found at sites distributed worldwide. C. prolifera provides a good model to explore the patterns of genetic diversity at different scales across the Mediterranean and Atlantic area. This study aims to investigate the biogeographical patterns of diversity and differentiation of C. prolifera in the Mediterranean, with special focus on the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone. We used two nuclear (ITS rDNA and the hypervariable microsatellite locus CaPr_J2) and one chloroplast (tufA) DNA markers on samples of C. prolifera from its entire range. Analyses of 51 sequences of the cpDNA tufA of C. prolifera, 87 ITS2 sequences and genotypes of 788 ramets of C. prolifera for the locus CaPr_J2 revealed three different biogeographical areas: West Atlantic, East Atlantic and a larger area representing the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone and a Pacific site (Bali). It was found out that the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone is a biogeographical boundary for C. prolifera. A lack of connectivity was revealed between Atlantic and Mediterranean types, and identical sequences found in the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific suggest either recent gene flow along the Red Sea connection or a possible ancient Indo-Pacific origin.",

author = "Elena Varela-{\'A}lvarez and Balau, {Ana C.} and Marb{\`a}, {N{\'u}ri{\`a} N.} and Julio Afonso-Carrillo and Duarte, {Carlos M.} and Serr{\~a}o, {Ester {\'A}lvares}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: We thank all the people and Institutions that collected plants and/or helped with the sampling collection: Liam Cronin, Ligia Collado-Vides, Gisela Dionisio, Elvira Alvarez, Rocio Santiago, Elena Diaz-Almela, Ricardo Bermejo, Fernando Ojeda Copete, Alexandra Cunha, Pablo Manent, Estibaliz Berecibar, Antonia Ribera-Siguan, Carolina Pena-Martin, Pablo Sanchez Jerez, Felio Lozano, Jacinto Barquin and Francisco Valdes; Natural Park of s'Albufera des Grau (Government of the Balearic Islands: http://www.balearsnatura.com/parc-natural-de-s-albufera-des-grau/equipamiento.html) and the Marine Reserve of Tabarca (Alicante). We also thank for the sequencing work Marta Valente and Cristina Paulino. Financial support for this study was provided by several research projects: CAULERPA_GENETICS (PTDC/MAR/70921/2006) by FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation) co-funded by FEDER and a postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/17206/2004) from FCT, Portugal, co-funded by FSE, both to EVA, EXCL/AAG-GLO/0661/2012 to ES, CAULEXPAN (Spanish Ministry of Education, REN2002-00701) to NM, MedVeg (EU contract no. Q5RS-2001-02456), PRADERAS by the Foundation BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) to CD.",

year = "2015",

month = jan,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "162",

pages = "557--569",

journal = "Marine Biology",

issn = "0025-3162",

publisher = "Springer Verlag",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Genetic diversity and biogeographical patterns of Caulerpa prolifera across the Mediterranean and Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone

AU - Varela-Álvarez, Elena

AU - Balau, Ana C.

AU - Marbà, Núrià N.

AU - Afonso-Carrillo, Julio

AU - Duarte, Carlos M.

AU - Serrão, Ester Álvares

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: We thank all the people and Institutions that collected plants and/or helped with the sampling collection: Liam Cronin, Ligia Collado-Vides, Gisela Dionisio, Elvira Alvarez, Rocio Santiago, Elena Diaz-Almela, Ricardo Bermejo, Fernando Ojeda Copete, Alexandra Cunha, Pablo Manent, Estibaliz Berecibar, Antonia Ribera-Siguan, Carolina Pena-Martin, Pablo Sanchez Jerez, Felio Lozano, Jacinto Barquin and Francisco Valdes; Natural Park of s'Albufera des Grau (Government of the Balearic Islands: http://www.balearsnatura.com/parc-natural-de-s-albufera-des-grau/equipamiento.html) and the Marine Reserve of Tabarca (Alicante). We also thank for the sequencing work Marta Valente and Cristina Paulino. Financial support for this study was provided by several research projects: CAULERPA_GENETICS (PTDC/MAR/70921/2006) by FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation) co-funded by FEDER and a postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/17206/2004) from FCT, Portugal, co-funded by FSE, both to EVA, EXCL/AAG-GLO/0661/2012 to ES, CAULEXPAN (Spanish Ministry of Education, REN2002-00701) to NM, MedVeg (EU contract no. Q5RS-2001-02456), PRADERAS by the Foundation BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) to CD.

PY - 2015/1/11

Y1 - 2015/1/11

N2 - Knowledge of spatial patterns of genetic differentiation between populations is key to understanding processes in evolutionary history of biological species. Caulerpa is a genus of marine green algae, which has attracted much public attention, mainly because of the impacts of invasive species in the Mediterranean. However, very little is known about the ecological and evolutionary history of the Mediterranean native Caulerpa prolifera, a species which is currently found at sites distributed worldwide. C. prolifera provides a good model to explore the patterns of genetic diversity at different scales across the Mediterranean and Atlantic area. This study aims to investigate the biogeographical patterns of diversity and differentiation of C. prolifera in the Mediterranean, with special focus on the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone. We used two nuclear (ITS rDNA and the hypervariable microsatellite locus CaPr_J2) and one chloroplast (tufA) DNA markers on samples of C. prolifera from its entire range. Analyses of 51 sequences of the cpDNA tufA of C. prolifera, 87 ITS2 sequences and genotypes of 788 ramets of C. prolifera for the locus CaPr_J2 revealed three different biogeographical areas: West Atlantic, East Atlantic and a larger area representing the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone and a Pacific site (Bali). It was found out that the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone is a biogeographical boundary for C. prolifera. A lack of connectivity was revealed between Atlantic and Mediterranean types, and identical sequences found in the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific suggest either recent gene flow along the Red Sea connection or a possible ancient Indo-Pacific origin.

AB - Knowledge of spatial patterns of genetic differentiation between populations is key to understanding processes in evolutionary history of biological species. Caulerpa is a genus of marine green algae, which has attracted much public attention, mainly because of the impacts of invasive species in the Mediterranean. However, very little is known about the ecological and evolutionary history of the Mediterranean native Caulerpa prolifera, a species which is currently found at sites distributed worldwide. C. prolifera provides a good model to explore the patterns of genetic diversity at different scales across the Mediterranean and Atlantic area. This study aims to investigate the biogeographical patterns of diversity and differentiation of C. prolifera in the Mediterranean, with special focus on the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone. We used two nuclear (ITS rDNA and the hypervariable microsatellite locus CaPr_J2) and one chloroplast (tufA) DNA markers on samples of C. prolifera from its entire range. Analyses of 51 sequences of the cpDNA tufA of C. prolifera, 87 ITS2 sequences and genotypes of 788 ramets of C. prolifera for the locus CaPr_J2 revealed three different biogeographical areas: West Atlantic, East Atlantic and a larger area representing the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone and a Pacific site (Bali). It was found out that the Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone is a biogeographical boundary for C. prolifera. A lack of connectivity was revealed between Atlantic and Mediterranean types, and identical sequences found in the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific suggest either recent gene flow along the Red Sea connection or a possible ancient Indo-Pacific origin.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/564004

UR - http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922540576&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5

DO - 10.1007/s00227-014-2605-5

M3 - Article

SN - 0025-3162

VL - 162

SP - 557

EP - 569

JO - Marine Biology

JF - Marine Biology

IS - 3

ER -

Genetic diversity and biogeographical patterns of Caulerpa prolifera across the Mediterranean and Mediterranean/Atlantic transition zone

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this