Estimation of genetic diversity in the colony forming polar prymnesiophyte spezies Phaeocystis antarctica
Final Report Abstract
These results revealed high genetic differentiation among and within P. antarctica populations with the currents playing an important role in their structure. In no case, did we find the same genotype for all loci tested. In each case, isolates from the same region originated from the same bloom (or bucket of water) and we suggested that these isolates were genetically closely related. P. antarctica populations are not strictly isolated in the oceanic regimes in which it inhabits and the ACC provides a dispersal mechanism among populations to all other oceanographic regimes of the Southern Ocean. But each regime still maintains “its own genetically distinct” population and genetic signature, which can then be traced in other gyres as isolates are moved from one gyre into another and interbreed with the next population. Gene flow was not evenly dispersed among all populations. We found little evidence of the resident Weddell Sea population being exported to other areas. We are confident that water leaves the Weddell Sea but are unsure why Weddell Sea populations are not found elsewhere. The Ross Sea genotypes were found in high abundance in all other gyres. So we would propose that the magnitude of gene flow among populations is highly dependent on the current system.
Publications
- 2006. Methods used to reveal genetic diversity in the colony-forming prymnesiophytes Phaeocystis antarctica, P. globosa and P. pouchetii—preliminary results. Biogeochemistry 83,19-27
Gaebler, S. Hayes, P.K. and Medlin, L.K.
- (2009). STAMP: Extensions to the STADEN sequence analysis package for high throughput interactive microsatellite marker design. BMC Bioinformatics, 10:41
Kraemer, L., Beszteri, B., Gäbler-Schwarz, S., Held, C., Leese, F., Mayer, C., Pohlmann, K., Frickenhaus, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-10-41)
