Adult Acropora palmata colonies were sampled (1 cm2) with hammer and chisel and tissues were preserved in 96% non-denature Ethanol. DNA was extracted using the DNEasy tissue kit (Qiagen) following manufacturer’s instructions. Two multiplex Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) were performed per sample using fluorescently labeled primers to assay five loci containing AAT repeats. These five microsatellite loci have previously been demonstrated to be mendelian and coral-specific using controlled crosses (Baums et al., 2005). PCR products were visualized with an automated sequencer (ABI 3730). An internal size standard (Gene Scan 500-Liz, Applied Biosystems CA) ensured accurate sizing. Electropherograms were analyzed with GeneMapper Software 3.0 (Applied Biosystems, CA). Alleles were scored as PCR product size.
References:
Baums IB, Devlin-Durante MK, LaJeunesse TC (2014) New insights into the dynamics between reef corals and their associated dinoflagellate endosymbionts from population genetic studies. Molecular Ecology 23, 4203-4215.
Baums IB, Hughes CR, Hellberg MH (2005) Mendelian microsatellite loci for the Caribbean coral Acropora palmata. Marine Ecology - Progress Series 288, 115-127 for details on PCR amplification.
Devlin-Durante MK, Miller MW, Caribbean Acropora Research G, Precht WF, Baums IB. How old are you? Genet age estimates in a clonal animal. Mol Ecol. 2016. doi: 10.1111/mec.13865 for details on how mutations were scored.