Assessment of three mitochondrial loci variability for the crown-of-thorns starfish: a first insight into Acanthaster phylogeography.
Acanthaster planci (L.) is one of the major threats to coral reefs, whose genetic diversity has been mainly studied with allozymes. Allozymes revealed the low genetic differentiation between A. planci populations in the Indo-Pacific area. We obtained sequences of A. planci from Kenya, Mayotte and Madagascar at the three loci cytochrome oxydase subunit I (COI), 16S rDNA (16S) and five tRNAs, analysed together with available sequences of Acanthaster from the Pacific Ocean. The level of genetic diversity varied among the three loci, tRNAs being on average three times less divergent than COI and 16S genes. The genus Acanthaster appeared monophyletic, the two species A. brevispinus (Fisher) and A. planci forming distinct clades in agreement with data from morphology and systematics. The A. planci clade split into a West Indian Ocean group and a Pacific group, in agreement with allozyme data on population differentiation.
Gérard
Karin
K
Université de la Méditerranée, centre d'océanologie de Marseille, station marine d'Endoume, chemin de la Batterie-des-Lions, 13007 Marseille, France. karin.gerard@univmed.fr
Roby
Charlotte
C
Chevalier
Nicolas
N
Thomassin
Bernard
B
Chenuil
Anne
A
Féral
Jean-Pierre
JP
D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D017753:Ecosystem; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D019156:Indian Ocean; D007630:Kenya; D008270:Madagascar; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011156:Population Density; D013215:Starfish / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure