Extensive fertilization gene analysis for the prediction of population outbreak of Acanthaster planci

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870563
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment; Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: University of Miyazaki
• Principal Investigator: Yasuda Nina 宮崎大学, テニュアトラック推進機構, 准教授 (00617251)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: Ｂｉｎｄｉｎ / 受精遺伝子 / オニヒトデ / 大量発生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Fertilization experiments were carried out in order to examine varietibity of fertilization success rate depending on different male and different sperm concentration in Okinawa and Miyazaki. While sperm of 4 males showed higher fertilization success rate at higher sperm concentration, other 2 males showed the opposit trend, implying that best sperm concentration for high fertilization success rate is different depending on individuals.
On the other hand, we identified bindin gene sequence of Acanthaster planci which is the egg recognized protein on sperm. Bindin gene included repetitive regions whose longths are different depending on individuals. Besides, those regions have much more nonsynonymous substitutions than other genomic regions.
These data implied some male have genotypes that have advantage in fertilization under outbreak condition while the others have genotypes that have advantage under low population density.

Free Research Field

海洋分子生態学