Correlation between DNA microsatellite heterozygosity and growth rate was investigated in two hatchery-propagated stocks of the shrimp Penaeus stylirostris, which had been genetically isolated from wild founders for 17 generations, and from each other for five more generations. Presumed demographic history of these populations suggested that they were maintained at small effective population sizes, and this was confirmed by significant changes in allelic frequencies between the two stocks. Despite a small sample size (n=60) and a small number of loci screened, a significant positive correlation was detected between microsatellite tri-locus heterozygosity and growth rate in one of the two stocks (r=0.3, P=0.02). In the other stock (n=48), the positive correlation was not significant, but the combined test of single locus heterozygote advantage over the three loci was significant (P=0.005). Use of DNA microsatellite markers, whose selectively neutral status is generally accepted, allowed us to reject the hypothesis of direct overdominance at marker loci as an explanation for an association of growth rate with heterozygosity. The average depression associated with one locus in our case is above or equivalent to the amount observed for a 10% increase of inbreeding in other species. These results suggest that heterozygosity at neutral marker loci is sufficiently well correlated with individual inbreeding coefficients to reveal a significant residual inbreeding load for growth rate in Tahitian P. stylirostris stocks. Inbreeding during hatchery propagation was, thus, insufficient to purge the ancestral load.

International audienceIn order to study further the genetic structure of the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera in French Polynesia with a special consideration for the sampling scale, we analyzed or re-analyzed sets of data based on nuclear DNA markers obtained at different spatial scales. At a large scale (several 1,000 km), the remote Marquesas Islands were confirmed to be significantly differentiated from Tuamotu-Gambier and Society archipelagos, with a marked difference however for the two main islands that are different from each other. At a medium scale (several 10 to several 100 km), overall homogeneity was observed within and between these two archipelagos, with some exceptions. This could be attributed both to large-scale larval dispersal and to human-driven spat translocations due to pearl oyster cultivation. These results contrast with those observed (1) at a small scale (less than 10 km) in a lagoon heavily impacted by translocation and cultural practices, where significant genetic differentiation was detected among three laying beds, and (2) at a micro scale where we detected an important variability of the genetic composition of young spat recruited on artificial collectors. Such patterns could result from a high variance in the number of genitors at the origin of each cohort, or from pre- or post-settlement selection on linked loci. Altogether, our data support the hypothesis that under certain conditions populations of bivalves may exhibit patterns of chaotic genetic patchiness at local scale, in line with the increasing report of such patchiness in marine benthic organisms. This underlines the importance of sampling scale that should be rigorously defined depending on the questions to be answered. Nevertheless, a survey of about 80 articles dealing with population genetics of marine invertebrates showed that only 35% of those studies disclosed details about the sampling strategy (particularly the area explored). These results emphasize the need for cautious interpretation of patterns of genetic structure at medium scale when rigorous sampling strategies are not deployed

Most bivalves species of the genus Pinctada are well known throughout the world for production of white or black pearls of high commercial value. For cultured pearl production, a mantle allograft from a donor is implanted into the gonad of a recipient oyster, together with a small inorganic bead. Because of the dedifferentiation of cells during the first steps of the host oyster's immunological reaction, so far the fate of the graft and its exact role in the process of pearl formation could not be determined via classical histological methods. Here we report the first molecular evidence of the resilience of the graft in the recipient organism by showing that cells containing genome from the donor are still present at the end of pearl formation. These results suggest the existence of a unique biological cooperation leading to the successful biomineralization process of nacreous secretion in pearl formation.

This study aimed to model the food intake of P. margaritifera to examine the relationship between food level and reproductive activity. The effect of microalgae concentration on ingestion rate and assimilation efficiency was studied over a broad concentration range, using a mixture of Isochrysis galbana and Chaetoceros gracilis. Reproductive effort was assessed using three microalgae concentrations of 0.5, 7 and 18 cell lL À1 . Reproductive status was assessed by gonad development index (GDI)the ratio of the gonad surface to the visceral mass surfaceand histological analysis of the gonad based on the presence (continuous or discontinuous) or the absence of gonial cells (GC). Ingestion is a saturating function of seston concentration for bivalves modelled with an adapted Michaelis-Menten function. The maximum ingestion rate of P. margaritifera adults was 193.50 9 10 6 cell h À1 g À1 dw and the half saturation coefficient was 15 cell lL À1 . The concentration of 18 cell lL À1 , supplied for 45 days, induced a significantly higher GDI than the other treatments. GC decreased significantly and even stopped when pearl oysters were under-fed, suggesting that the mitotic process of the germinal stem cells was altered. Differentiation of germinal stem cells therefore appears to be controlled by food availability.

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