Hsu Chia-Min, de Palmas Stéphane, Kuo Chao-Yang, Denis Vianney, Chen Chaolun Allen
Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2014 Sep 11;9(9):e107366. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107366. eCollection 2014.
The identification of coral recruits has been problematic due to a lack of definitive morphological characters being available for higher taxonomic resolution. In this study, we tested whether fluorescent detection of coral recruits used in combinations of different DNA-barcoding markers (cytochrome oxidase I gene [COI], open reading frame [ORF], and nuclear Pax-C intron [PaxC]) could be useful for increasing the resolution of coral spat identification in ecological studies. One hundred and fifty settlement plates were emplaced at nine sites on the fringing reefs of Kenting National Park in southern Taiwan between April 2011 and September 2012. A total of 248 living coral spats and juveniles (with basal areas ranging from 0.21 to 134.57 mm(2)) were detected on the plates with the aid of fluorescent light and collected for molecular analyses. Using the COI DNA barcoding technique, 90.3% (224/248) of coral spats were successfully identified into six genera, including Acropora, Isopora, Montipora, Pocillopora, Porites, and Pavona. PaxC further separated I. cuneata and I. palifera of Isopora from Acropora, and ORF successfully identified the species of Pocillopora (except P. meandrina and P. eydouxi). Moreover, other cnidarian species such as actinarians, zoanthids, and Millepora species were visually found using fluorescence and identified by COI DNA barcoding. This combination of existing approaches greatly improved the taxonomic resolution of early coral life stages, which to date has been mainly limited to the family level based on skeletal identification. Overall, this study suggests important improvements for the identification of coral recruits in ecological studies.
由于缺乏可用于更高分类分辨率的明确形态特征，珊瑚幼体的鉴定一直存在问题。在本研究中，我们测试了将不同DNA条形码标记（细胞色素氧化酶I基因[COI]、开放阅读框[ORF]和核Pax-C内含子[PaxC]）组合使用时，荧光检测珊瑚幼体是否有助于提高生态研究中珊瑚幼体鉴定的分辨率。2011年4月至2012年9月期间，在台湾南部垦丁国家公园边缘礁的9个地点放置了150个附着板。借助荧光在这些板上共检测到248个活的珊瑚幼体和幼体（基部面积从0.21到134.57平方毫米不等），并收集用于分子分析。使用COI DNA条形码技术，90.3%（224/248）的珊瑚幼体成功鉴定到六个属，包括鹿角珊瑚属、异孔珊瑚属、蔷薇珊瑚属、杯形珊瑚属、孔珊瑚属和平扁珊瑚属。PaxC进一步将异孔珊瑚属的楔形异孔珊瑚和帕氏异孔珊瑚与鹿角珊瑚属区分开来，ORF成功鉴定了杯形珊瑚属的物种（除了平均杯形珊瑚和艾氏杯形珊瑚）。此外，通过荧光目视发现了其他刺胞动物物种，如海葵、群体海葵和千孔珊瑚属物种，并通过COI DNA条形码进行了鉴定。这种现有方法的组合极大地提高了珊瑚早期生命阶段的分类分辨率，迄今为止，基于骨骼鉴定，珊瑚早期生命阶段的分类分辨率主要限于科级。总体而言，本研究为生态研究中珊瑚幼体的鉴定提出了重要改进。
