TY - JOUR
T1 - Successful colonization of the Red Sea Yellowspotted Puffer, Torquigener flavimaculosus in the Mediterranean without a genetic bottleneck
AU - Tikochinski, Yaron
AU - Ohana, Talya
AU - Motro, Uzi
AU - Golani, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Yaron Tikochinski et al.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The Yellowspotted Puffer Torquigener flavimaculosus (Hardy & Randall, 1983) invaded the Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. In the present study, we analyzed two mitochondrial loci, the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) and the control region (D-loop), from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea populations. Both the COI and the D-loop showed no decrease of genetic variability in the Mediterranean population compared to the source population from the Red Sea. When comparing the genetic variability to two other species of the Tetraodontidae family (Takifugu rubripes and Takifugu obscurus), the mean divergence within the T. flavimaculosus is almost twice as large. T. flavimaculosus has two distinct genetic groups, similarly represented both in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean, with similar coefficients of differentiation in COI, in D-loop, and, not surprisingly, in the two genes combined. This suggests that T. flavimaculosus has most likely established a sustainable population in the Suez Canal, that has gradually dispersed northward and eventually entered the Mediterranean with a large number of individuals, carrying a great deal of its genetic variability.
AB - The Yellowspotted Puffer Torquigener flavimaculosus (Hardy & Randall, 1983) invaded the Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. In the present study, we analyzed two mitochondrial loci, the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) and the control region (D-loop), from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea populations. Both the COI and the D-loop showed no decrease of genetic variability in the Mediterranean population compared to the source population from the Red Sea. When comparing the genetic variability to two other species of the Tetraodontidae family (Takifugu rubripes and Takifugu obscurus), the mean divergence within the T. flavimaculosus is almost twice as large. T. flavimaculosus has two distinct genetic groups, similarly represented both in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean, with similar coefficients of differentiation in COI, in D-loop, and, not surprisingly, in the two genes combined. This suggests that T. flavimaculosus has most likely established a sustainable population in the Suez Canal, that has gradually dispersed northward and eventually entered the Mediterranean with a large number of individuals, carrying a great deal of its genetic variability.
KW - COI
KW - control region
KW - D-loop
KW - founder effect
KW - Lessepsian migration
KW - speciation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195318695&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3391/AI.2024.19.1.113978
DO - 10.3391/AI.2024.19.1.113978
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AN - SCOPUS:85195318695
SN - 1798-6540
VL - 19
SP - 25
EP - 34
JO - Aquatic Invasions
JF - Aquatic Invasions
IS - 1
ER -