A genetic framework for Rhopaliophora evolution

MARONNA, M.; GAMERO-MORA, E.; JAIMES-BECERRA, A; MOLINARI, C.; LAWLEY, J.; RYAN, J.; SCHIARITI, A.; MORANDINI, A. C.

Sao Sebastiao

Simposio; XX Simpósio de Biología Marinha; 2019

Universidad de Sao Paulo

Any culture-relatedlaboratory would be considered the optimal starting point for a geneticproject, mainly if they are considered as desired main objectives genomics andevolution. Cnidaria is a well known animal group (~11,000 extant species) butbesides a few species, they lack genetic information in classical and newfronts like genome sizes, cytogenetics and genome sequencing. From thesepremises/context we developed an evolutionary genomics approach to takeadvantage of Rhopaliophoraspecies in culture, starting with genome sizes. A total of 97 cnidarian specieswere defined their genome sizes using Flow Cytometry technique, including thenew smallest and biggest genome size for the group; from these, 40 are relatedto Scyphozoa and 8 to Cubozoa. From this first outcome and taking account theirphylogenetic context, we targeted a selected group of species as priorities togenome sequencing. They included Coronatae (Nausithoe aurea, Thecoscyphus zibrowiii and Linucheanguila), Semaeostomeae (Sanderia malayensis) and Rhizostomeaespecies (Rhopilema esculentum, Lichnorhiza lucerna and Stomolophus meleagris); as outgroups, we sequenced acerianthid and a zoanthid species (Palythoamizigama and Ceriantheomorphe brasiliensis, respectively). All thesedatasets are being explored in several hypotheses, mainly in terms ofmacroevolution and evolutionary dynamics (ex, genome sizes, life cycles and noncoding regions). As an additional outcome, new collaborations were establishedwith international groups and we are proposing a new international network ofcnidarian culture experts to enhance cnidarian research from culture and livingspecimens.