Novel Mitochondrial DNA Markers for Scleractinian Corals and Generic-Level Environmental DNA Metabarcoding

Coral reefs, the most biodiverse habitats in ocean, are formed by anthozoan cnidarians, scleractinian corals. Recently, however, ongoing climate change has imperiled corals and coral reef environments changing drastically. Thus, convenient, high-density monitoring of is essential to understand changes communities. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding potentially one effective means achieving it. Using publicly available mitochondrial genomes, we developed high-specificity primers amplify 12S ribosomal RNA (12S) cytochrome oxidase-1 (CO1) genes diverse corals, which could be used for genus-level analyses, using next-generation sequencing technologies. To confirm effectiveness these primers, PCR amplicon was performed eDNA isolated along seashore Okinawa, Japan. We successfully amplified all samples PCR. Approximately 93 72% sequences CO1 originated from genes, respectively, confirming higher specificities than previously metabarcoding. also found that hierarchical clustering, based on percentage mapped reads each genus, discriminates between sampling locations, suggesting surveys sufficiently powerful reveal differences communities separated <1 km. conclude method reported here a tool conducting efficient targeting