Phylogenetic analyses among octocorals (Cnidaria): mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (lsu-rRNA, 16S and ssu-rRNA, 18S) support two convergent clades of branching gorgonians

Gorgonian octocorals lack corroborated hypotheses of phylogeny. This study reconstructs genealogical relationships among some octocoral species based on published DNA sequences from the large ribosomal subunit of the mitochondrial RNA (lsu-rRNA, 16S: 524bp and 21 species) and the small subunit of the nuclear RNA (ssu-rRNA, 18S: 1815bp and 13 spp) using information from insertions-deletions (INDELS) and the predicted secondary structure of the lsu-rRNA (16S). There were seven short (3-10bp) INDELS in the 18S with consistent phylogenetic information. The INDELS in the 16S corresponded to informative signature sequences homologous to the G13 helix found in Escherichia coli. We found two main groups of gorgonian octocorals using a maximum parsimony analysis of the two genes. One group corresponds to deep-water taxa including species from the suborders Calcaxonia and Scleraxonia characterized by an enlargement of the G13 helix. The second group has species from Alcyoniina, Holaxonia and again Scleraxonia characterized by insertions in the 18S. Gorgonian corals, branching colonies with a gorgonin-containing flexible multilayered axis (Holaxonia and Calcaxonia), do not form a monophyletic group. These corroborated results from maternally inherited (16S) and biparentally inherited (18S) genes support a hypothesis of independent evolution of branching in the two octocoral clades.