Flot, J.-F. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2018

Reply to Cross-Contamination Explains \"Inter and Intraspecific Horizontal Genetic Transfers\" between Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers (Wilson, Nowell & Barraclough 2018)

We thank Wilson et al. (2018) for their thorough re-analysis of our data and for their constructive criticisms that led our groups to exchange many stimulating emails over the last two years. Although we agree that inter-individual contamination can yield patterns suggestive of inter-individual recombination, we are not fully convinced by their criticisms of our 2016 dataset and would like to point here briefly to some inaccuracies and likely errors in their interpretation of our chromatograms.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Comparative analysis of the genomes of Stylophora pistillata and Acropora digitifera provides evidence for extensive differences between species of corals

Stony corals form the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Their phylogeny is characterized by a deep evolutionary divergence that separates corals into a robust and complex clade dating back to at least 245 mya. However, the genomic consequences and clade-specific evolution remain unexplored. In this study we have produced the genome of a robust coral, Stylophora pistillata, and compared it to the available genome of a complex coral, Acropora digitifera. We conducted a fine-scale gene-based analysis focusing on ortholog groups. Among the core set of conserved proteins, we found an emphasis on processes related to the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis. Similarly, genes associated with the algal symbiosis were also independently expanded in both species, but both corals diverged on the identity of ortholog groups expanded, and we found uneven expansions in genes associated with innate immunity and stress response. Our analyses demonstrate that coral genomes can be surprisingly disparate. Importantly, if the patterns elucidated here are representative of differences between corals from the robust and complex clade, the ability of a coral to respond to climate change may be dependent on its clade association.

genomics↗