PCR-RFLP approaches to easily identify Pleuronectes platessa from other flatfishes: a rapid and efficient tool to control label information

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Additional taxonomic coverage of the doubly uniparental inheritance in bivalves: Evidence of sex-linked heteroplasmy in the razor clam Solen marginatus Pulteney, 1799, but not in the lagoon cockle Cerastoderma glaucum (Bruguière, 1789)

In animals, doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) is a major exception to the common strict maternal inheritance of mitochondria. To date, DUI has only been found in many bivalve species, but its distribution is still unclear. Given the great species richness of the class, much effort is needed to further investigate the occurrence of DUI in unsampled species. A compelling evidence of DUI is generally the presence of a sex-linked heteroplasmy, where two divergent mitochondrial lineages are found: One is isolated from the male germline, and the other one is isolated from the female germline and, normally, from the soma of both sexes. In the present study, we investigated the sex-linked heteroplasmy in the razor clam Solen marginatus Pulteney, 1799 and in the lagoon cockle Cerastoderma glaucum (Bruguière, 1789) using two mitochondrial markers (cox1 and rrnL). We found evidence of DUI in the species S. marginatus, with a divergence up to 21% for the rrnL gene, but not in C. glaucum. Moreover, our phylogenetic reconstruction includes all the available data for heterodont species with sex-linked heteroplasmy and suggests multiple origins of DUI in this subclass, as well as the presence of DUI in other species of the genus Solen

Combining Historical and Molecular Data to Study Nearly Extinct Native Italian Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix) at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.

The grey partridge (Perdix perdix Linnaeus, 1758), is a polytypic species with seven recog- nized subspecies, including P. p. italica (Hartert, 1917), which is endemic to Italy. Until World War II, the species was widespread across Europe but severely declined due to anthropogenic causes, jeopardizing the Italian subspecies gene pool. Genetic characterization and haplotype identification were performed by analyzing the 5′-end of the mitochondrial control region (CR). A total of 15 hap- lotypes were detected, seven of which were present in the population before 1915. Among them, three haplotypes were never detected again in the individuals collected after 1915. Interestingly, eight of the 15 haplotypes detected in Italian museum samples belonged exclusively to individuals collected after 1915. The obtained data highlight a high presence of specimens originating from other European populations and, despite all the conservation efforts, suggest an uncertain situation of the subspecies in Italy. This research was strongly backed up by extensive bibliographic research on historical documents, allowing the identification of hundreds of restocking events all over Italy. This is an integral part of this research and has laid the foundations for identifying and circumscribing historical periods in which introductions from the rest of Europe had different pressures, aiming to define a baseline

First evidence of heteroplasmy in Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix)

Abstract We report for the first time the occurrence of heteroplasmy in Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix) revealed by means of two mitochondrial fragments. The possible serious biological and management implications of this exception to unilateral inheritance of mtDNA were underlined

High Levels of Variation Within Gene Sequences of Olea europaea L.

Gene sequence variation in cultivated olive (Olea europaea L. subsp. europaea var. europaea), the most important oil tree crop of the Mediterranean basin, has been poorly evaluated up to now. A deep sequence analysis of fragments of four genes, OeACP1, OeACP2, OeLUS and OeSUT1, in 90 cultivars, revealed a wide range of polymorphisms along all recognized allele forms and unexpected allele frequencies and genotype combinations. High linkage values among most polymorphisms were recorded within each gene fragment. The great sequence variability corresponded to a low number of alleles and, surprisingly, to a small fraction of genotype combinations. The distribution, frequency, and combination of the different alleles at each locus is possibly due to natural and human pressures, such as selection, ancestrality, or fitness. Phylogenetic analyses of allele sequences showed distant and complex patterns of relationships among cultivated olives, intermixed with other related forms, highlighting an evolutionary connection between olive cultivars and the O. europaea subspecies cuspidata and cerasiformis. This study demonstrates how a detailed and complete sequence analysis of a few gene portions and a thorough genotyping on a representative set of cultivars can clarify important issues related to sequence polymorphisms, reconstructing the phylogeny of alleles, as well as the genotype combinations. The identification of regions representing blocks of recombination could reveal polymorphisms that represent putatively functional markers. Indeed, specific mutations found on the analyzed OeACP1 and OeACP2 fragments seem to be correlated to the fruit weight

Negative Evidence for Sex-Linked Heteroplasmy in the Nemertean Worm Notospermus geniculatus (Delle Chiaje, 1822)

Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI) is considered one of the major exceptions to the common rules of eukaryotic cell biology and germline formation. DUI is known in bivalves, which belong to the phylum Mollusca; conversely, no DUI evidence was found in some gastropod species. Investigating the presence of DUI in Nemertea is of particular interest given the fact that these spiralian animals are suggested to be a sister group of Neotrochozoa (i.e., Mollusca and Annelida). DUI species are normally detected as having two sex-associated mtDNAs, which can be highly divergent. In this work, the presence of sex-associated mitochondrial genomes was investigated in the nemertean species Notospermus geniculatus and no evidence was found for DUI. Even if these are preliminary results, negative evidence is still interesting because of the high importance of the DUI phenomenon in many research fields, where it plays a pivotal role in understanding eukaryotic evolution. For this reason, further research on DUI species detection should be highly encouraged, as well as the publication of negative results beside positive ones, as is the case for the present study, improving the knowledge on the biology and ecology of a broad spectrum of marine species

Molecular identification of an alien temnocephalan crayfish parasite in Italian freshwaters

Although the symbionts of non-vertebrate metazoans have received scarce attention, scientific interest has recently increased as these symbionts can spread diseases and alter the diversity of the ecosystem where hosts are introduced. We report here a symbiont newly described by molecular markers and observed on the yabby Cherax destructor Clark, 1936, collected in Italian freshwaters. Preliminary morphological observations were performed and a species identification was proposed using molecular techniques. In particular, a 644-bp long 28S rDNA fragment was successfully sequenced and could be aligned for the entire sample set. The minimum spanning network identified two haplotypes clustered into a single haplogroup (H1) together with Temnosewellia minor Haswell, 1888 reference sequences. Considering the introduction of temnocephalans, this represents the third discovery of alien crayfish symbionts in Italian freshwaters, but the first obtained by molecular data. Outside Europe, there are only few records of alien temnocephalans worldwide, introduced with the crayfishes from Australia. The occurrence of this new temnocephalid species and the great number of potential hosts species inhabiting Italian freshwaters suggest that the Italian peninsula might have many undescribed temnocephalid populations/species