We are excited to share our most recent article published in Scientific Reports “Population genetic structure of the great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, across the Cuban archipelago with comparisons between microsatellite and SNP markers." Voss Lab graduate student Lexie Sturm is first author on the study that also comprises part of her Ph.D. dissertation research at FAU Harbor Branch.
The full article is open-access and can be downloaded here.
The study stemmed from a collaborative effort between U.S. and Cuban scientists to study Cuba’s shallow and mesophotic reefs and their regional connectivity. On a joint research cruise in 2017, Voss led a team collecting samples of the coral Montastraea cavernosa from shallow (0-5 m) and a few mesophotic (30-150 m) colonies throughout the Cuban archipelago. These samples were then genotyped using nine microsatellite markers and a 2bRAD SNP genotyping approach that generated >9,000 SNPs. By implementing both of these molecular approaches, we were able to better characterize the population genetic structure of M. cavernosa in the region and compare the merits and drawbacks of both marker classes.
Both the microsatellite and the SNP datasets were able to identify significant levels of genetic differentiation among samples from the mesophotic population, Banco de San Antonio, and all other shallow sampling populations. Furthermore, the SNP dataset identified significant levels of genetic differentiation among most of the shallow sites and indicated that differentiation was highest between western and eastern coral populations in Cuba. From the SNP dataset, we were also able to identify a number of samples belonging to a unique genetic cluster. These samples were more commonly from the western populations where strong, oceanic currents dominate the hydrodynamic regime, perhaps connecting these populations to other reefs within the Tropical Western Atlantic region. We are continuing to generate SNP-based genetic datasets for other M. cavernosa populations in the region to evaluate regional metapopulation dynamics and to assess genetic connectivity between Cuba and other populations in the U.S., Mexico, and Belize.
The full article is open-access and can be downloaded here.
The study stemmed from a collaborative effort between U.S. and Cuban scientists to study Cuba’s shallow and mesophotic reefs and their regional connectivity. On a joint research cruise in 2017, Voss led a team collecting samples of the coral Montastraea cavernosa from shallow (0-5 m) and a few mesophotic (30-150 m) colonies throughout the Cuban archipelago. These samples were then genotyped using nine microsatellite markers and a 2bRAD SNP genotyping approach that generated >9,000 SNPs. By implementing both of these molecular approaches, we were able to better characterize the population genetic structure of M. cavernosa in the region and compare the merits and drawbacks of both marker classes.
Both the microsatellite and the SNP datasets were able to identify significant levels of genetic differentiation among samples from the mesophotic population, Banco de San Antonio, and all other shallow sampling populations. Furthermore, the SNP dataset identified significant levels of genetic differentiation among most of the shallow sites and indicated that differentiation was highest between western and eastern coral populations in Cuba. From the SNP dataset, we were also able to identify a number of samples belonging to a unique genetic cluster. These samples were more commonly from the western populations where strong, oceanic currents dominate the hydrodynamic regime, perhaps connecting these populations to other reefs within the Tropical Western Atlantic region. We are continuing to generate SNP-based genetic datasets for other M. cavernosa populations in the region to evaluate regional metapopulation dynamics and to assess genetic connectivity between Cuba and other populations in the U.S., Mexico, and Belize.
This work was funded by awards from NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research to the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology (CIOERT) at FAU Harbor Branch and student funding from the NSF GRFP, Women Divers Hall of Fame, and Florida Sea Grant Scholars program. We are grateful to all of our American and Cuban colleagues who participated or facilitated this collaborative research expedition and follow-up molecular analyses. Special thanks go to the co-authors of the study including PhD student Ryan Eckert at Harbor Branch, Juliett González Méndez from Cuba's National Center of Protected Areas, and Dr. S. Patricia González Díaz, director of the Center for Marine Research at the University of Havana.
