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Microsatellite loci for Symbiodinium A3 (S. fitti) a common algal symbiont among Caribbean Acropora (stony corals) and Indo-Pacific giant clams (Tridacna)

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Abstract

We developed ten polymorphic microsatellite loci for S. fitti (type A3), and tested their utility on a Caribbean population associated with the coral Acropora palmata and an Indo-Pacific population harbored by the giant clam Tridacna maxima. Our analyses identified from 3 to 8 alleles for each haploid locus. Diversity (R) indices were 0.48 for the Indo-Pacific and 0.81 for the Caribbean. Greater than 95% of the samples possessed a single, symbiont, multilocus genotype (MLG). Among their many uses for the study of coral-algal symbioses, population genetic markers provide insight on the potential for symbiont dispersal, can be used to assess symbiont population stability/longevity in hospite, and partition symbiont diversity into reproductively isolated operational taxonomic units (i.e. species).

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant OCE-0928764 to TCL and IBB), Pennsylvania State University, and a fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to JP. We wish to thank Dr. Juan Armando Sanchez, Universidad de los Andes, for facilitating the collections in Columbia and Drs. M. Torchin and Dr. C. Schloede at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for collections in Pamama. Thank you to the staff at the Richard B. Gump Pacific Research Station and the Vaoto Lodge for facilitating fieldwork in Moorea and Ofu. Collection and export permits were obtained from local authorities. Permit number NPSA-2008-SCI-0004 for Tridacna samples from Ofu, American Samoa and SC/A-1-09 for A. palmata from Panama.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 221 Mueller Laboratory, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Jorge H. Pinzón, Meghann K. Devlin-Durante, Iliana B. Baums & Todd C. LaJeunesse

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Museum of Paleontology, UC Berkeley, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. #3140, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3140, USA

    Michele X. Weber

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  1. Jorge H. Pinzón
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  2. Meghann K. Devlin-Durante
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  3. Michele X. Weber
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  4. Iliana B. Baums
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  5. Todd C. LaJeunesse
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Correspondence to Todd C. LaJeunesse.

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Pinzón, J.H., Devlin-Durante, M.K., Weber, M.X. et al. Microsatellite loci for Symbiodinium A3 (S. fitti) a common algal symbiont among Caribbean Acropora (stony corals) and Indo-Pacific giant clams (Tridacna). Conservation Genet Resour 3, 45–47 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9283-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-010-9283-5

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