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A 'fair go' for coral hybridization.

David J Miller1, Madeleine J H Van Oppen

  • 1Comparative Genomics Centre, Molecular Sciences Building, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia. david.miller@jcu.edu.au

Molecular Ecology
|May 20, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Coral hybridization, or reticulation, occurs in Caribbean Acropora species, challenging previous findings. This process increases genomic diversity and adaptive evolution potential in corals.

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Area of Science:

  • Marine Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Hybridization between coral species is known in vitro, but its evolutionary significance is debated.
  • Genetic and reproductive evidence support introgressive hybridization in Indo-Pacific Acropora.
  • Previous studies suggested reticulation is rare and disputed its occurrence in Caribbean Acropora.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the occurrence of reticulation in Caribbean Acropora species.
  • To re-evaluate findings on coral hybridization using combined data.
  • To address the extrapolation of Caribbean coral findings to Indo-Pacific species.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of genetic and reproductive data from Caribbean Acropora species.
  • Comparison of data from Vollmer and Palumbi (2002) and van Oppen et al. (2000).

Main Results:

  • Evidence confirms reticulation has occurred among Caribbean Acropora species.
  • Interspecific hybridization events, though rare, are significant for evolutionary timescales.
  • Genomic diversity and heterozygosity are increased by hybridization, facilitating adaptive evolution.

Conclusions:

  • Reticulation is confirmed in Caribbean Acropora, contradicting some previous research.
  • Findings highlight the importance of hybridization for coral adaptive evolution.
  • Conclusions drawn from Caribbean Acropora should not be generalized to Indo-Pacific corals.

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