Allozyme variation in European lobster (Homarus gammarus) throughout its distribution range

Abstract

The European lobster, Homarus gammarus, is a high value species, which is widely distributed from the northern part of Norway to Morocco in North Africa. It is also found throughout the Mediterranean including the Aegean Sea. Knowledge of the genetic structure is necessary for rational management of exploited species. As part of a comprehensive genetic investigation of European lobster (EU-project "Genetics of European Lobster"), 1514 lobsters from 14 locations were analysed for six polymorphic allozyme loci. Despite generally low levels of genetic differentiation (overall F ST = 0.016), the tests for population differentiation revealed highly significant values for all loci investigated. In particular, the lobsters from three areas including northern Norway, the Netherlands, and Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean were genetically different from lobsters from other regions. genetic diversity observed in the samples from other areas, and polymorphism was only detected at the IDHP-1* locus. A new slow-moving allele at the GPI-1* locus was found in the samples from the Aegean Sea. Pairwise F ST comparisons, as well as a UPGMA dendrogram based on Nei's genetic distance (calculated from allele frequencies across the six loci investigated), confirm the separate main groupings.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms reveal a genetic cline across the north‐east Atlantic and enable powerful population assignment in the European lobster

“…This study revealed a pronounced phylogeographic break between the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins using 79 SNPs, a pattern detected by two previous studies of H. gammarus that used six allozymes (Jørstad et al, 2005) and RFLP analysis of a 3-kb mtDNA segment (Triantafyllidis et al, 2005). However, compared to these two studies that similarly explored range-wide genetic variation, the 79 SNPs from this study detected higher overall genetic differen- Although the Almeria-Oran front has been reported to impede gene flow in a number of marine species (Patarnello, Volckaert, & Castilho, 2007), the Strait of Gibraltar has also been implicated as a potential driver of genetic patterns (García-Merchán et al, 2012).…”

“…Delineating conservation units is a fundamental requirement for fisheries and conservation managers, so that they recognize the boundaries of the populations they are trying to preserve (Funk et al, 2012;Palsbøll et al, 2007 The results from this study using putatively neutral SNPs, combined with the results from previous studies (Ellis et al, 2017;Jørstad et al, 2005;Triantafyllidis et al, 2005), suggest that gene flow in H.…”

“…Previous genetic studies based on allozyme and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers have found that lobsters from northern Norway, Oosterschelde (Netherlands) and the Mediterranean are genetically differentiated from each other and all other samples analysed (Jørstad, Faresteit, Kelly, & Triantaphyllidis, 2005;Triantafyllidis et al, 2005). Using 14 microsatellites, Ellis, Hodgson, Daniels, Collins, and Griffiths (2017) suggested lobsters from the Skagerrak region-a strait located between the Jutland and Scandinavian peninsulas which connects the North Sea to the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea-may be genetically distinct.…”

Population characteristics of the world's northernmost stocks of European lobster(Homarus gammarus)in Tysfjord and Nordfolda, northern Norway

“…The world's northernmost European lobster populations are found north of the Arctic Circle and are genetically distinct from all other populations in Europe (Ferguson 2002;Jørstad et al 2004Jørstad et al , 2005Triantafyllidis et al 2005). Significant genetic differences were also found between lobsters in the fjord systems of Tysfjord and Nordfolda .…”

SNP discovery in European lobster (Homarus gammarus) using RAD sequencing

“…Over the last decade, genetic diversity and population structure has been investigated in H. gammarus using traditional molecular markers including random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) (Ulrich et al 2001), allozymes (Jorstad et al 2005), mtDNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) (Triantafyllidis et al 2005) and microsatellites (Huserbraten et al 2013;Watson et al 2016;Ellis et al 2017). However, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are becoming the marker of choice in molecular ecology studies, particularly for non-model organisms without a well-annotated genome, because they are (i) abundant and generally widespread in the genome, (ii) eligible for high-throughput screening and automation, and (iii) reproducible across labs (Seeb et al 2011).…”