{"id":114963,"date":"2020-04-02T10:59:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T20:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=114963"},"modified":"2020-04-02T10:59:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T20:59:29","slug":"ostrea-equestris-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/02\/ostrea-equestris-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Undocumented oyster species identified"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Students in a UH<\/abbr> Hilo genetics class who did the lab work used to identify a previously undocumented oyster species in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A previously undocumented oyster species has been recognized for the first time in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> by a team of students and faculty at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> in a collaborative project with community partners.<\/p>\n

The work was done as part of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience, commonly called a CURE<\/abbr> project, by a genetics class with lab work (BIOL<\/abbr> 376L<\/a>) taught by Jolene Sutton<\/strong>, assistant professor of biology at UH<\/abbr> Hilo. CURE<\/abbr> projects are large-scale, where an entire class works together to tackle a single research question.<\/p>\n

“We brought the oysters into the class and the students did everything from start to finish,” said Sutton. “They did the DNA<\/abbr> extraction, amplified a gene that\u2019s typically used for DNA<\/abbr> barcoding, did the analysis and then wrote a report on what they found.”<\/p>\n

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The genetic study expands the known range of the western Pacific Ostrea equestris<\/em>, a species previously documented in China, Japan and New Zealand, by providing the first verification of its occurrence in Â鶹´«Ã½.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benefits of the discovery<\/h2>\n

The genetic study by UH<\/abbr> Hilo students expands the known range of the western Pacific Ostrea equestris<\/em>, a species previously documented in China, Japan and New Zealand, by providing the first verification of its occurrence in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. The discovery has been submitted to a journal for peer review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The students\u2019 findings may prove useful for the state\u2019s aquaculture industry.<\/p>\n

“This task of identifying the different oysters in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> offers some potential to diversify the markets,” explained Sutton. “This could be something that is marketable for food, since people do eat the Ostrea<\/em> species. If this is a species that grows really well and is already here, maybe this is a good option for aquaculture purposes.”<\/p>\n

Sutton\u2019s co-authors on the paper include students Keinan Agonias<\/strong>, Nicole Antonio<\/strong>, Brandi Bautista<\/strong>, Riley Cabarloc<\/strong>, Maata Fakasieiki<\/strong>, Noreen Aura Mae Gonong<\/strong>, Torey Ramangmou<\/strong>, Lavin Uehara<\/strong> and Jade Wong<\/strong>; two graduate student teaching assistants Jared Nishimoto<\/strong> and Jeremy Schrader<\/strong>; Maria Haws<\/strong>, director of the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center<\/a>, and colleagues Marni Rem-McGeachy<\/strong>, Hope Helg<\/strong>, Daniel Wilkie<\/strong> and David Littrell; and Rhiannon Chandler, executive director of Waterkeepers Hawaiian Islands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more details, view the full story at UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

—By Leah Sherwood<\/strong>, a graduate student in the tropical conservation biology and environmental science program at UH<\/abbr> Hilo<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo students conducting a large-scale study in a genetics class discover the first occurrence of the Ostrea equestris<\/em> oyster species in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[175,267,14,907],"class_list":["post-114963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-marine-biology","tag-pacific-aquaculture-and-coastal-resources-center","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114963"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114994,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114963\/revisions\/114994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}