Here, we used reduced-representation genome sequencing to conduct a phylogenomic assessment of the two dominant mesophotic genera of plating corals in the Indo-Pacific and Western Atlantic, respectively, Leptoseris and Agaricia. While these genome-wide phylogenies broadly corroborated the morphological taxonomy, they also exposed deep divergences within the two genera and undescribed diversity across the current taxonomic species. Five of the eight focal species consisted of at least two sympatric and genetically distinct lineages, which were consistently detected across different methods.
The repeated observation of genetically divergent lineages associated with mesophotic depths highlights that there may be many more mesophotic-specialist coral species than currently acknowledged and that an urgent assessment of this largely unstudied biological diversity is warranted.
结果:这里,我们使用简化代表性基因组测序对印度-太平洋和西大西洋的两个主要中胚层珊瑚属进行系统发育评估,分别,Leptoseris和Agaricia.虽然这些全基因组系统发育广泛证实了形态学分类,他们还暴露了两个属内的深异,以及当前分类物种的未描述多样性。八个焦点物种中的五个由至少两个同胞和遗传上不同的谱系组成,它们在不同的方法中被一致地检测到。
结论:对与介晶深度相关的遗传差异谱系的重复观察突出表明,可能有比目前公认的更多的介晶专业珊瑚物种,并且对这种大部分未研究的生物多样性进行紧急评估是有必要的。