Robicheau Brent M, Chase Emily E, Hoeh Walter R, Harris John L, Stewart Donald T, Breton Sophie
Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, Canada.
Current affiliation: Department of Biology, Life Science Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
PeerJ. 2018 Jun 13;6:e5007. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5007. eCollection 2018.
Freshwater mussels (order: Unionida) represent one of the most critically imperilled groups of animals; consequently, there exists a need to establish a variety of molecular markers for population genetics and systematic studies in this group. Recently, two novel mitochondrial protein-coding genes were described in unionoids with doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA. These genes are the in female-transmitted mtDNA and the in male-transmitted mtDNA. In this study, whole F-type mitochondrial genome sequences of two morphologically similar spp. were compared to identify the most divergent protein-coding regions, including the gene, and evaluate its utility for population genetic and phylogeographic studies in the subfamily Ambleminae. We also tested whether the gene is phylogenetically informative at the species level. Our preliminary results indicated that the gene could represent a viable molecular marker for population- and species-level studies in freshwater mussels.
淡水贻贝（目：蚌目）是最濒危的动物群体之一；因此，有必要建立多种分子标记用于该群体的群体遗传学和系统研究。最近，在具有线粒体DNA双亲遗传的蚌类中发现了两个新的线粒体蛋白编码基因。这些基因分别是雌性传递的线粒体DNA中的基因和雄性传递的线粒体DNA中的基因。在本研究中，比较了两个形态相似的物种的完整F型线粒体基因组序列，以确定最具差异的蛋白编码区域，包括基因，并评估其在Ambleminae亚科群体遗传学和系统地理学研究中的效用。我们还测试了该基因在物种水平上是否具有系统发育信息。我们的初步结果表明，该基因可以作为淡水贻贝群体和物种水平研究的一个可行的分子标记。
