96.1  Monday, Jan. 6 13:30  Signals of natural selection and local adaption in the genome of the reef-building coral Acropora millepora CAPPER, RL*; MATZ, MV; University of Texas at Austin; University of Texas at Austin roxana.capper@gmail.com

Population genomics seeks to correlate the genetic repertoire of a species with the local environmental gradients encountered along the species’ range. Historically, population genetic statistics were calculated using a minimal number of markers to make general statements about population dynamics on a coarse scale. However, recent technological advances such as restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) have allowed population genetic statistics such as F_st to be calculated continuously and in high resolution along each chromosome. Patterns of these statistics can be used to pinpoint regions of the genome that may currently be or previously have been subject to selection or other evolutionary trajectories. Such regions can then be analyzed in depth to potentially reveal the genes or even nucleotides relevant to survival in different environments.

We performed Type II-B RAD-seq for the reef-building coral Acropora millepora, a species that is in decline due to climate change and other anthropogenic threats. Our hope is to identify genes that influence survival in warmer waters, which could then inform conservation biology. We sampled 148 individuals from six populations representing much of the species range along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. We used 30,000 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to scan the genome for loci exhibiting canonical signatures of evolution. Beyond linking loci to environmental conditions, we can examine existing transcriptomic resources to determine if these loci are directly involved in coral stress responses. Our RAD-seq data can be also be used for high-resolution connectivity studies and to infer past population demographics to give an unprecedented, holistic view of coral evolution.