Scott K, He S, Hardenstine R S, Tanabe L K, Barrios-Garrido H, Jensen M P, Afiq-Rosli L, Wildermann N E, Duarte C M, Cochran J E M, Berumen M L
Marine Science Program, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal Saudi Arabia.
KAUST Beacon Development, KAUST National Transformation Institute, Innovation Cluster, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal Saudi Arabia.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Aug 25;15(8):e72046. doi: 10.1002/ece3.72046. eCollection 2025 Aug.
The green sea turtle is a wide-ranging marine reptile, inhabiting all the world's tropical and warm-temperate seas. This global distribution makes delineating population boundaries challenging, and molecular tools like genetic markers are often required to define these limits. The Red Sea hosts ~1500 nesting green turtles, but research in the region is limited. The Red Sea may foster genetically distinct populations due to geographic barriers and extreme environmental conditions, as observed in other Red Sea taxa. In the present study, we sampled 193 nesting females and hatchlings from five rookeries, which support ~550 nesting females per year, on the Saudi Arabian coast of the Red Sea. We aimed to determine the genetic diversity within the basin and connectivity around the Arabian Peninsula and to the wider Indian Ocean. We analysed 710 bp of the mtDNA d-loop from five Red Sea rookeries. Five haplotypes, grouped into two highly divergent haplogroups, were identified. Haplogroup one comprised 85% of our sample library and four haplotypes (CmP71.1-CmP71.4), three of which were previously unreported, while haplogroup two was much less prevalent (15% of the sample library) and consisted of a single novel haplotype (CmP62.2) more closely related to Arabian Gulf haplotypes. Most Red Sea rookeries shared haplotypes, but we observed a slight north-to-south gradient due to the increasing prevalence of CmP62.2. Pairwise differences showed high genetic differentiation between the Ras al Baridi and the Al Wejh rookeries, indicating restricted gene flow between two major nesting sites and highlighting the need for separate conservation management strategies within the basin. We suggest that the isolation of the Red Sea and past paleo and climatic events have led to the divergence of three endemic haplotypes and possibly an evolutionary adaptation to the elevated temperature within the basin, which warrants further study.
绿海龟是一种广泛分布的海洋爬行动物，栖息于世界上所有的热带和暖温带海域。这种全球分布使得划定种群边界具有挑战性，通常需要像基因标记这样的分子工具来界定这些界限。红海有大约1500只筑巢绿海龟，但该地区的研究有限。正如在其他红海生物分类群中所观察到的，由于地理屏障和极端环境条件，红海可能孕育出基因上不同的种群。在本研究中，我们从红海沙特阿拉伯海岸的五个繁殖地采集了193只筑巢雌性海龟和幼龟样本，这些繁殖地每年大约有550只筑巢雌性海龟。我们旨在确定该海域内的遗传多样性以及阿拉伯半岛周围和更广阔印度洋的连通性。我们分析了来自红海五个繁殖地的线粒体DNA控制区710 bp的序列。鉴定出了五个单倍型，分为两个高度分化的单倍群。单倍群一占我们样本库的85%，包含四个单倍型（CmP71.1 - CmP71.4），其中三个是以前未报道过的，而单倍群二则不太常见（占样本库的15%），由一个与阿拉伯湾单倍型关系更密切的新单倍型（CmP62.2）组成。大多数红海繁殖地共享单倍型，但由于CmP62.2的流行率增加，我们观察到了轻微的由北向南的梯度。成对差异显示拉斯拉巴里迪和阿尔韦吉繁殖地之间存在高度的遗传分化，表明两个主要筑巢地点之间的基因流动受限，并突出了在该海域内采取单独保护管理策略的必要性。我们认为，红海的隔离以及过去的古地理和气候事件导致了三种地方特有单倍型的分化，并且可能导致了对该海域内升高温度的进化适应，这值得进一步研究。
