Molecular taxonomy of Plagioscion Heckel (Perciformes, Sciaenidae) and evidence from mtDNA RFLP markers for an invasive species in the Paraná river, Southern Brazil

Abstract

Mitochondrial RFLP markers were developed to examine whether Plagioscion squamosissimus (Heckel, 1840) is invasive in natural environments of the congener P. ternetzi in the Paraná river, in southern Brazil. Specimens of P. squamosissimus and of the putative P. ternetzi (Boulenger, 1895) were obtained from the Negro river (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil) and from Paraná river, respectively. Fragments of the cytochrome b gene (900bp) were amplified by PCR and four restriction enzymes (Eco RI, Mbo I, Bam HI and Alu I) yielded the mitochondrial markers. An additional RFLP analysis with a cytochrome b gene sequence of Plagioncion sp. from GeneBank was carried out to validate the prior analysis. No genetic differentiation was found among either sample. While molecular variation in the cytochrome b analysis was no substantial among individuals, the combined analysis was important for demonstrating that there is no evidence for differentiation of the putative sample P. ternetzi from that of P. squamosissimus. The ecological implications of the introduced occurrence of P. squamosissimus, as well as the role of molecular taxonomic approaches for biodiversity studies are discussed.

Genetic characterization of native and invasive Plagioscion squamosissimus (Perciformes, Sciaenidae) populations in Brazilian hydrographic basins

“…In the Amazon River basin, previous genetic studies have been reported on native populations of P. squamosissimus (Teixeira et al, 2002;Torres, 2006), but intraspecies genetic data on these populations and on populations native to the Parnaíba River basin are recent and were obtained by Panarari-Antunes et al (2012) for the first time. In the current study, the genetic variability between native and invasive populations of P. squamosissimus was verified by examining the mtDNA control region across populations.…”

“…In spite of the colonization success of P. squamosissimus in the upper Paraná River, risks to native species are very great and the literature has already reported a decrease of certain species due to the invasion of P. squamosissimus (Torres, 2006;Barros et al, 2012).…”

Genetic divergence among invasive and native populations ofPlagioscion squamosissimus(Perciformes, Sciaenidae) in Neotropical regions

“…data). In a previous study of P. squamosissimus , Torres (2006) analysed restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers of the mitochondrial cytochrome b ( cyt b ) gene in specimens from the Negro River, in the Amazon River basin, as well as in the mPR basin, downstream of the Itaipu dam. The RFLP analysis did not detect polymorphism among the specimens of these two localities.…”

Single nucleotide polymorphisms from cytochrome b gene as a useful protocol in forensic genetics against the illegal hunting of manatees: Trichechus manatus, Trichechus inunguis, Trichechus senegalensis, and Dugong dugon (Eutheria: Sirenia)

“…These methods can be used for the detection of species-specific mutations, which enable classification of samples within a molecular taxonomy perspective (MORIN et al 2004, GONZÁLEZ et al 2009). Variation within the cytochrome b gene has been found to be one of the most useful genetic markers for species discrimination (MEYER 1994, PALO & MERILÄ 2003, RIDDLE et al 2003, YAN et al 2005, TORRES 2006, PARSON et al 2000. SNPs can be broadly defined as any single base substitution/indel in the genome of an individual (PRIMMER et al 2002).…”