High genetic diversity and fine-scale spatial structure in the marine flagellate Oxyrrhis marina (Dinophyceae) uncovered by microsatellite loci.

ABSTRACT: Free-living marine protists are often assumed to be broadly distributed and genetically homogeneous on large spatial scales. However, an increasing application of highly polymorphic genetic markers (e.g., microsatellites) has provided evidence for high genetic diversity and population structuring on small spatial scales in many free-living protists. Here we characterise a panel of new microsatellite markers for the common marine flagellate Oxyrrhis marina. Nine microsatellite loci were used to assess genotypic diversity at two spatial scales by genotyping 200 isolates of O. marina from 6 broad geographic regions around Great Britain and Ireland; in one region, a single 2 km shore line was sampled intensively to assess fine-scale genetic diversity. Microsatellite loci resolved between 1-6 a

SUBMITTER: Lowe CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3009739 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature