Historical biogeography and mitogenomics of two endemic Mediterranean gorgonians (Holaxonia, Plexauridae)

Poliseno, Angelo; Altuna, Alvaro; Cerrano, Carlo; Wörheide, Gert und Vargas, Sergio (2017): Historical biogeography and mitogenomics of two endemic Mediterranean gorgonians (Holaxonia, Plexauridae). In: Organisms Diversity & Evolution, Bd. 17, Nr. 2: S. 365-373

Abstract

Among the Mediterranean plexaurids, four species are endemic and despite their ecological importance, comprehensive studies on the evolution and biogeography of these organisms are lacking. Here, we explore the mitogenomic variability of two endemic, ecologically important Mediterranean Paramuricea species. We assess their phylogenetic relationships and provide first insights into their evolution and biogeography. Complete mitogenome sequences of Paramuricea clavata and Paramuricea macrospina were obtained using long-range PCR, primer-walking and Sanger sequencing. For an enlarged sample of Paramuricea species, maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic trees of the mitochondrial gene mtMutS were obtained and used to study the biogeographic history of Paramuricea through a statistical Dispersal-Vicariance (S-DIVA) method and a Dispersal Extinction Cladogenesis (DEC) model. Divergence time was estimated under strict and relaxed molecular clock models in BEAST using published octocoral mutation rates. Our results revealed high nucleotide diversity (2.6%) among the two Mediterranean endemics;the highest mutation rates were found in the mtMutS, Nad4 and Nad5. In addition, we found length polymorphisms in several intergenic regions and differences in mitochondrial genome size. The red gorgonian P. clavata was closely related to the Eastern Atlantic Paramuricea grayi rather than its Mediterranean congener, P. macrospina. Our biogeographic results provide evidence for the independent speciation of the Mediterranean species and point to a Miocene origin of the two endemics, highlighting the role played by the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the evolutionary history of Mediterranean organisms.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Geowissenschaften > Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften
• Fakultätsübergreifende Einrichtungen: GeoBio-Center
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie ; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 500 Naturwissenschaften
• ISSN: 1439-6092
• Sprache: Englisch