Genetic diversity of the pan‐European freshwater mussel Anodonta anatina (Bivalvia: Unionoida) based on CO1: new phylogenetic insights and implications for conservation

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. The duck mussel, Anodonta anatina, has been described as abundant and widespread in Europe. However, it is listed as near threatened or threatened in several countries owing to severe declines in abundance and/or spatial distribution.2. Despite its potential ecological importance and conservation status almost nothing is known regarding its genetic diversity.3. As a preliminary analysis, variation within the cytochrome oxidase 1 mitochondrial gene was determined from European specimens from Portugal in the south west, to Ukraine in the east, and Sweden in the north.4. Three major mtDNA clades were retrieved: clade 1 includes all the individuals from Iberia, except those from the Ebro basin; clade 2 includes all the European non-Iberian and non-Italian samples; and clade 3 includes all the individuals from Italy and from the Ebro basin. AMOVA analysis revealed significant genetic differences among the three clades. Within each of the major clades, several geographically related haplogroups were also retrieved, especially in Iberia, where four genetically distinct groups (North-West, South-Central, South-West and Ebro) were revealed.5. Given the evidence of regional declines of A. anatina in Europe, the confirmation of geographically distinct genotypes indicates a need for the development of management strategies directed towards the conservation of localized populations.

Phylogeny of the most species-rich freshwater bivalve family (Bivalvia: Unionida: Unionidae): Defining modern subfamilies and tribes

“…PCR conditions for both markers, the female lineages of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, COI (LCO22me2 + HCO700dy2; Walker et al, 2006Walker et al, , 2007andLCO1490 + HCO2198;Folmer et al, 1994) and 28S ribosomal RNA (28S-RD1.3f and 28S-rD4b; Whiting, 2002) were described in Froufe et al (2014). Annealing temperatures of 48°C were used for COI (LCO1490 + HCO2198) and 28S; and 50°C for COI (LCO22me2 + HCO700dy2).…”

When and how? Freshwater mussel recolonization in Lake Orta

“…A fragment of ~700 bp of CO1 gene was amplified by PCR using the LCO22me2 and HCO700dy2 primers (Walker et al, 2006(Walker et al, , 2007. The PCR conditions (25 μL reactions) are described elsewhere (Froufe et al, 2014), with the annealing temperature being done at 50°C. Amplified DNA templates were purified and sequenced externally by Macrogen, using the same primers.…”

Lifting the curtain on the freshwater mussel diversity of the Italian Peninsula and Croatian Adriatic coast

“…This latter clade was suggested as corresponding to one of the previously identified Italian taxa of uncertain rank (i.e., Anodonta I; Nagel et al 1996). However, as Froufe et al (2014) only included two Italian populations, they refrained from drawing any taxonomic conclusions, as further sampling was still needed.…”

“…While morphological distinction between the two recognized Anodonta species is extremely difficult because of the high morphological plasticity within each of them (Zieritz and Aldridge 2011) and morphological convergence between them, molecular identifications have been shown to produce more reliable results (e.g. Froufe et al 2014). A comprehensive molecular study comprising all European Anodonta spp., including the Italian populations, is, however, still lacking.…”

“…Although the majority of the studies that support the refugia-within-refugia scenario (Gómez and Lunt 2007) have been undertaken in the Iberian Peninsula, including those on freshwater mussels (e.g. Araujo et al 2005Araujo et al , 2009Froufe et al 2014Froufe et al , 2016a, recent studies have evidenced patterns of population genetic differentiation that could also be explained by the occurrence of this scenario in Italy (e.g. ; Giovannotti et al 2010;Bogdanowicz et al 2015;Mezzasalma et al 2015).…”