Genetic variation associated with lower susceptibility to sea star
wasting syndrome in the keystone species, Pisaster ochraceus
Abstract
The keystone species, Pisaster ochraceus, suffered mass mortalities
along the northeast Pacific Ocean from Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS)
outbreaks in 2013-2016. Causation of SSWS is still debated, leading to
concerns as to whether outbreaks will continue to impact this species.
Considering the apparent link between ocean temperature and SSWS, the
future of this species and intertidal communities remains uncertain. We
surveyed populations of sea stars along the Oregon coast in 2016, two
years after the epidemic began. Cohabitation of asymptomatic and
symptomatic individuals allowed us to ask whether lower susceptibility
in asymptomatic individuals differed genetically. We performed
restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (2bRAD-seq) to genotype
thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. By comparing
allele frequencies between symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, we
detected three loci that may be under selection. A multivariate analysis
showed a clear separation between groups based on disease status in two
of the three geographic regions, along with several regions across the
genome having small statistical contributions to this separation. A
draft annotation of protein-coding regions allowed us to identify 120
predicted genes that are linked to these markers and are putatively
associated with lower susceptibility. Our results suggest that some
variation in disease severity can be attributed to genetic variation.
However, differences in phenotype have a highly polygenic nature with no
single or few genomic regions having strong predictive effects. The
genes associated with these regions may form the basis for functional
studies aiming to understand disease progression in infected
individuals.