Meeting Abstract
Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata are listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act as a result of massive population declines in recent decades. This loss is attributed in part to increased disease prevalence, bleaching events and anthropogenic disturbances. Restoration efforts are underway that aim to increase or at least maintain genotypic diversity of these species. High-resolution genetic tools are required for this task because acroporids frequently occur as large clonal stands that can only be delineated via genotyping. Previously, species-specific microsatellite markers were used to resolve Acropora genotypes and while these markers provided reliable results they are difficult to implement for restoration practitioners without access to a genetics laboratory. We thus have identified biallelic single nucleotide variants (SNV) markers from deep- and shallow-sequenced A. cervicornis and A. palmata genomes to genotype individuals, distinguish populations and hybrid states. From these markers, we developed a custom SNV array using Affymetrix Axiom genotyping technology. We applied this array to 150 archived samples. The resulting SNV genotyping data is then analyzed using an open access Galaxy-based web portal, Standard Tools for Acroporid Genotyping (STAG), to perform an automated, standardized bioinformatics protocol to obtain genotypes. User supplied data can then be compared to the online database of all previously genotyped samples providing the user with information on previous observations of their genotypes including sampling location, collection date and hybrid status. The SNV array combined with STAG will allow for reliable, standardized identification of host genotype information. The publically available database of Acroporid genotypes can then be used for the definition of management units based on genetic differentiation among genets, sites, populations, and species.
