Analysis of rDNA reveals a high genetic diversity of Halophila major in the Wallacea region

Nguyen, Xuan-Vy and Nguyen-Nhat, Nhu-Thuy and Nguyen, Xuan-Thuy and Dao, Viet-Ha and M. Liao, Lawrence and Papenbrock, Jutta and Eble, Jeffrey A. (2021) Analysis of rDNA reveals a high genetic diversity of Halophila major in the Wallacea region. PLOS ONE, 16 (10). e0258956. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

The genus Halophila shows the highest species diversity within the seagrass genera. Southeast Asian countries where several boundary lines exist were considered as the origin of seagrasses. We hypothesize that the boundary lines, such as Wallace’s and Lydekker’s Lines, may act as marine geographic barriers to the population structure of Halophila major. Seagrass samples were collected at three islands in Vietnamese waters and analyzed by the molecular maker ITS. These sequences were compared with published ITS sequences from seagrasses collected in the whole region of interest. In this study, we reveal the haplotype and nucleotide diversity, linking population genetics, phylogeography, phylogenetics and estimation of relative divergence times of H. major and other members of the Halophila genus. The morphological characters show variation. The results of the ITS marker analysis reveal smaller groups of H. major from Myanmar, Shoalwater Bay (Australia) and Okinawa (Japan) with high supporting values. The remaining groups including Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Two Peoples Bay (Australia) and Tokushima (Japan) showed low supporting values. The Wallacea region shows the highest haplotype and also nucleotide diversity. Non-significant differences were found among regions, but significant differences were presented among populations. The relative divergence times between some members of section Halophila were estimated 2.15–6.64 Mya.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Oalibrary Press > Geological Science
Depositing User: Managing Editor
Date Deposited: 10 Mar 2023 06:52
Last Modified: 08 Apr 2024 09:26
URI: http://asian.go4publish.com/id/eprint/659

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