Meeting Abstract

118.1  Tuesday, Jan. 7 10:15  Unraveling the transcriptome of three sympatric species of coral reef fishes (genus: Haemulon) BERNAL , MA*; MATZ , MV; ROCHA, LA; Univ of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute; Univ of Texas at Austin ; California Academy of Science bernal.moises@gmail.com

The genus Haemulon is comprised of 19 nominal species of reef fishes, distributed in the Tropical Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. The distribution of species on both ocean basins lead to suggest the radiation of the group was due to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Recent molecular phylogenies, however, indicate most of the sister species have completely overlapping ranges. Interestingly, grunts in general exhibit no genetic partitions over their broad distribution, showing only signatures of isolation by distance. Further, recent studies have shown reefs accelerate the rate of morphological evolution of haemulids. These traits make the group well suited for the study of sympatric speciation in coral reef fishes. In the present project, we aim to elucidate the main causes of divergence between three sympatric species of the Western Atlantic: Haemulon macrostomum, H. carbonarium and H. flavolineatum. For this goal we sequenced, assembled and annotated the transcriptome of the three closely related species. The expressed genome will allow us to detect signatures of positive and balancing selection, as well as the genes that may be responsible for the divergence of the group.