Ellis Charlie D, Hodgson David J, André Carl, Sørdalen Tonje K, Knutsen Halvor, Griffiths Amber G F
Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, United Kingdom.
National Lobster Hatchery, South Quay, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8BL, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2015 Nov 13;10(11):e0139585. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139585. eCollection 2015.
Decapod crustaceans exhibit considerable variation in fertilisation strategies, ranging from pervasive single paternity to the near-ubiquitous presence of multiple paternity, and such knowledge of mating systems and behaviour are required for the informed management of commercially-exploited marine fisheries. We used genetic markers to assess the paternity of individual broods in the European lobster, Homarus gammarus, a species for which paternity structure is unknown. Using 13 multiplexed microsatellite loci, three of which are newly described in this study, we genotyped 10 eggs from each of 34 females collected from an Atlantic peninsula in the south-western United Kingdom. Single reconstructed paternal genotypes explained all observed progeny genotypes in each of the 34 egg clutches, and each clutch was fertilised by a different male. Simulations indicated that the probability of detecting multiple paternity was in excess of 95% if secondary sires account for at least a quarter of the brood, and in excess of 99% where additional sire success was approximately equal. Our results show that multiple paternal fertilisations are either absent, unusual, or highly skewed in favour of a single male among H. gammarus in this area. Potential mechanisms upholding single paternal fertilisation are discussed, along with the prospective utility of parentage assignments in evaluations of hatchery stocking and other fishery conservation approaches in light of this finding.
十足目甲壳类动物在受精策略上表现出相当大的差异，从普遍的单亲父系到几乎普遍存在的多亲父系，而对于商业开发的海洋渔业的明智管理而言，这种交配系统和行为的知识是必不可少的。我们使用遗传标记来评估欧洲龙虾（Homarus gammarus）个体卵群的父系情况，该物种的父系结构尚不清楚。我们使用13个多重微卫星位点（其中3个是本研究中新描述的），对从英国西南部一个大西洋半岛采集的34只雌性龙虾的每只10枚卵进行了基因分型。单一重建的父本基因型解释了34个卵块中每个观察到的后代基因型，并且每个卵块都由不同的雄性受精。模拟表明，如果次要父本至少占卵群的四分之一，检测到多亲父系的概率超过95%，而在额外父本成功概率大致相等的情况下，该概率超过99%。我们的结果表明，在该地区的欧洲龙虾中，多父本受精要么不存在、不常见，要么高度偏向于单一雄性。我们讨论了维持单亲父系受精的潜在机制，以及鉴于这一发现，亲子关系分配在评估孵化场放流和其他渔业保护方法中的潜在效用。
