About this Research Topic
With increasing anthropogenic pressure on natural populations, monitoring changes in the genetic diversity of marine organisms has attracted great attention in academic and public societies. Genetic diversity provides a way for populations to adapt to environmental changes and may be crucial for the fitness of a population. Genetic variability is also the basis for evolution of species. Moreover, the sustainable exploitation and proper resource management of marine species could be greatly enhanced by understanding the population structure of natural populations.
The rapid advances in molecular biology have provided a range of techniques for direct examination of variation in DNA. With the rapid development of sequencing technologies, it is now easy to detect and characterize many DNA markers in species of interest using next-generation sequencing. Currently, different types of DNA markers, e.g. microsatellites, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA amongst others, are widely used in genetic analysis due to their abundance, ease and high throughput of scoring. At the same time, molecular cytogenetics provides valuable tools and insights for comparative genomic research and has emerged as a promising avenue for understanding genome evolution and organization. In particular, the molecular organization and cytogenetic mapping of repetitive DNA elements, including satellites, multigene families and microsatellite repeats, have been analyzed in a large number of species. These studies have demonstrated the enormous potential that the investigation of repetitive DNA offers towards extending our knowledge of karyotype differentiation and evolution among populations. In this Research Topic, the focus will be on studies (including original research, perspectives, mini-reviews, commentaries, and opinion papers) that explore the genetic diversity and chromosomal evolution of marine organisms based on the analysis of chromosome and genomic DNA markers.
We welcome contributions relating to:
· Genetic diversity and population structure in marine organisms.
· Cytogenetic approaches to explore the diversity of marine organisms.
· The relationship between genetic diversity and environmental factors.
· Genetic diversity in cultivated and natural populations of commercially important species.
· Impacts of artificial intervening (domestication) on genetic diversity and evolution of the domesticated species.
· The application of genetic diversity in conservation genetics.
· New program tools or algorithms for the analysis of the molecular markers, especially NGS data.
The rapid advances in molecular biology have provided a range of techniques for direct examination of variation in DNA. With the rapid development of sequencing technologies, it is now easy to detect and characterize many DNA markers in species of interest using next-generation sequencing. Currently, different types of DNA markers, e.g. microsatellites, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA amongst others, are widely used in genetic analysis due to their abundance, ease and high throughput of scoring. At the same time, molecular cytogenetics provides valuable tools and insights for comparative genomic research and has emerged as a promising avenue for understanding genome evolution and organization. In particular, the molecular organization and cytogenetic mapping of repetitive DNA elements, including satellites, multigene families and microsatellite repeats, have been analyzed in a large number of species. These studies have demonstrated the enormous potential that the investigation of repetitive DNA offers towards extending our knowledge of karyotype differentiation and evolution among populations. In this Research Topic, the focus will be on studies (including original research, perspectives, mini-reviews, commentaries, and opinion papers) that explore the genetic diversity and chromosomal evolution of marine organisms based on the analysis of chromosome and genomic DNA markers.
We welcome contributions relating to:
· Genetic diversity and population structure in marine organisms.
· Cytogenetic approaches to explore the diversity of marine organisms.
· The relationship between genetic diversity and environmental factors.
· Genetic diversity in cultivated and natural populations of commercially important species.
· Impacts of artificial intervening (domestication) on genetic diversity and evolution of the domesticated species.
· The application of genetic diversity in conservation genetics.
· New program tools or algorithms for the analysis of the molecular markers, especially NGS data.
Keywords: Genetic diversity, Population structure, DNA markers, Molecular cytogenetics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
