Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the razor clam Ensis siliqua

Abstract

Five polymorphic microsatellite loci in the razor clam Ensis siliqua are described. A collection consisting of 34 individuals from Finisterre, Spain, was analysed. Loci were isolated from the sequences of intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Detailed analysis of 42 ISSR markers led to the design of 16 primer pairs. Five of these yielded consistent and polymorphic products. The number of alleles ranged from five to 23 per locus with the observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.46 to 0.94. Linkage equilibrium was observed in all loci and three of them showed significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium.

Isolation of Microsatellite Markers and Analysis of Genetic Diversity Among East Atlantic Populations of the Sword Razor Shell Ensis siliqua: A Tool for Population Management

“…The forward primer was labeled with the fluorescent dye HEX or 6-FAM, and amplification products were separated on an automated sequencer (3130xl Genetic Analyzer, Applied Biosystems, Alcobendas, Madrid) and examined using GeneMapper version 3.7 (Applied Biosystems). In addition, the microsatellite loci described by Varela et al (2007) were tested.…”

“…In order to obtain molecular markers with higher polymorphism and information content, we characterized new microsatellite markers in E. siliqua and analyzed the previously described ones (Varela et al 2007). Microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats, are tandemly repeated motifs of 1-6 base pairs that span fewer than a few hundred bases (Chambers and MacAvoy 2000).…”

The reproductive biology of the exploited razor clam, Ensis siliqua, in the Irish Sea

“…Ensis siliqua is a native species in Europe, and is distributed along the European Atlantic coast from the Norwegian Sea and the Baltic, south to the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast of Morocco (Costa et al, 2010;Darriba et al, 2005;Gaspar and Monteiro, 1998;Varela et al, 2007). It is abundant in the British Isles, and widely distributed along the east coast of Ireland (Fahy, 1999).…”

“…Ensis siliqua is currently harvested by commercial fisheries in Spain, Portugal, and Ireland (Costa et al, 2010) and is regarded as an increasingly valuable fishery resource with potential for commercial aquaculture in many European countries (Arias-Pérez et al, 2011;Varela et al, 2007;Wootton et al, 2003). By 2004, the importation rates of razor clams were quite significant in Europe, representing a total value of €550 million, with Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands being the most significant importers .…”

Geographical variation in shell shape of the pod razor shell Ensis siliqua (Bivalvia: Pharidae)

“…Most previous studies with E. siliqua have focused on life cycle and growth (Henderson and Richardson 1994;Gaspar and Monteiro 1998;Fahy and Gaffney 2001;Darriba et al 2005;da Costa et al 2010), larval cycle and aquaculture potential (Darriba et al 2005;da Costa et al 2010), genetics (Fernández-Tajes et al 2007;Varela et al 2007;Freire et al 2008;Arias et al 2011) or on fisheryrelated aspects (Robinson and Richardson 1998;Gaspar et al 1999;Tuck et al 2000;Fahy and Gaffney 2001;Hauton et al 2003a, b;Constantino et al 2009). To the author's best knowledge, the shell shape of E. siliqua has never been analysed by applying GM approaches.…”