Publication Date:
2002-06-18
Description:
Hundreds of coral species coexist sympatrically on reefs, reproducing in mass-spawning events where hybridization appears common. In the Caribbean, DNA sequence data from all three sympatric Acropora corals show that mass spawning does not erode species barriers. Species A. cervicornis and A. palmata are distinct at two nuclear loci or share ancestral alleles. Morphotypes historically given the name Acropora prolifera are entirely F(1) hybrids of these two species, showing morphologies that depend on which species provides the egg for hybridization. Although selection limits the evolutionary potential of hybrids, F(1) individuals can reproduce asexually and form long-lived, potentially immortal hybrids with unique morphologies.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Vollmer, Steven V -- Palumbi, Stephen R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2002 Jun 14;296(5575):2023-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. svollmer@oeb.harvard.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12065836" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Bayes Theorem
;
*Biological Evolution
;
Calmodulin/genetics
;
Caribbean Region
;
Cnidaria/anatomy & histology/*classification/*genetics/physiology
;
Collagen/genetics
;
DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics
;
*Ecosystem
;
Environment
;
*Genetic Variation
;
Haplotypes
;
*Hybridization, Genetic
;
Introns
;
Likelihood Functions
;
Polymorphism, Genetic
;
Reproduction
;
Reproduction, Asexual
;
Sequence Analysis, DNA
;
Species Specificity
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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