Relationship between two androgenetic clam species, Corbicula leana and Corbicula fluminea, inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b and nuclear 28S rRNA markers.

Two shell color types, yellow (type I) and brown (type II), of hermaphrodite Corbicula fluminea clams from Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, are sympatric with both male and hermaphrodite Corbicula leana. In the present study, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b and nuclear 28S rRNA genes of C. fluminea were sequenced to construct a haplotype network in order to investigate the genetic relationship with C. leana. Ninety C. fluminea samples revealed only two cytb haplotypes; the majority (97.8%) were CB7, while the remainder were CB1. In C. leana, only CB1 was detected in hermaphrodites, but both CB1 and CB7 were detected in males. Nuclear 28S rRNA haplotypes of C. fluminea type I individuals were divergent from those of hermaphrodite C. leana. However, C. fluminea type I clams shared haplotypes with male C. leana individuals, whereas C. fluminea type II individuals shared haplotypes with both hermaphrodite and male C. leana samples. These results suggest that it may be difficult to define a clear genetic border between these species.