Phylogenetic systematics of precious coral
| Japanese red coral’s sexual maturation |
| An experiment to increase precious corals |
| Coral nets’ environmental impact |
| Sustainable use of precious coral |
| Publications |
| Research organization |
|
Japanese red, white, and pink corals and Mediterranean red coral are widely used as gemstones but they were not well understood genealogically and taxonomically. This study attempted to solve the problem from the perspective of mitochondrial DNA sequences (alignment of A, C, G and T in mitochondrial genome). The mitochondrial genomes of red and white corals were composed of roughly 18,900 DNA base pairs (Fig. 1). In Fig. 1, the gene arrangements of the two corals are also shown. They are largely different, indicating that the two corals are distinctly different in the taxonomic classification. Then, using the nucleotide sequences, a phylogenic tree was constructed to see how precious corals and their closely related species are related (Fig. 2), and how precious corals themselves, having phylogenic affinities, are related (Fig. 3). The study revealed that precious corals are divided unambiguously into two groups: red coral and Mediterranean red coral as one while white coral and pink coral as the other. （Tomohiko Suzuki of Kochi University）
[Reference] ●Uda,
K., Komeda, Y., Fujita, T., Iwasaki, N., Bavestrello, G., Giovine, M.,
Cattaneo-Vietti, R. and Suzuki, T., 2013. Complete mitochondrial
genomes of the Japanese pink coral (Corallium elatius) and the
Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum): A reevaluation of the
phylogeny of the family Coralliidae based on molecular data.
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D, 8, 209-219.
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
