Co-phylogeographic structure in a disease-causing parasite and its oyster host
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Elizabeth Weatherup, Student (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
Abstract: With the increasing affordability of next-generation sequencing technologies, genotype-by-sequencing has become a cost-effective tool for ecologists and conservation biologists to describe a species’ evolutionary history. For host-parasite interactions, genotype-by-sequencing can allow the simultaneous examination of host and parasite genomes and can yield insight into co-evolutionary processes. The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is among the most important aquacultured species in the United States. Natural and farmed oyster populations can be heavily impacted by “dermo” disease caused by an alveolate protist, Perkinsus marinus. Here, we used restricted-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to simultaneously examine spatial population genetic structure of host and parasite. We analyzed 393 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for P. marinus and 52,100 SNPs for C. virginica from 36 individual oysters from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and mid-Atlantic coastline. All analyses revealed statistically significant genetic differentiation between the GOM and mid-Atlantic coast populations for both C. virginica and P. marinus, and genetic divergence between Chesapeake Bay and the outer coast of Virginia for C. virginica, but not for P. marinus. A co-phylogenetic analysis confirmed significant coupled evolutionary change between host and parasite across large spatial scales. The strong genetic divergence between marine basins raises the possibility that oysters from either basin would not be well adapted to parasite genotypes and phenotypes from the other, which would argue for caution with regard to both oyster and parasite transfers between the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions. More broadly, our results demonstrate the potential of RADseq to describe spatial patterns of genetic divergence consistent with coupled evolution.
Co-phylogeographic structure in a disease-causing parasite and its oyster host
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Created on 7/12/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Weatherup, Elizabeth F.; Carnegie, R. B.; Strand, A. E.; & Sotka, E. E. (2024). Co-phylogeographic structure in a disease-causing parasite and its oyster host. Parasitology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182024000611
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Perkinsus marinus; Crassostrea virginica; co-phylogeny; genotype-by-sequencing; genetic divergence