Interspecific hybridization and mitochondrial introgression in invasive carcinus shore crabs.

ABSTRACT: Interspecific hybridization plays an important role in facilitating adaptive evolutionary change. More specifically, recent studies have demonstrated that hybridization may dramatically influence the establishment, spread, and impact of invasive populations. In Japan, previous genetic evidence for the presence of two non-native congeners, the European green crab Carcinus maenas and the Mediterranean green crab C. aestuarii, has raised questions regarding the possibility of hybridization between these sister species. Here I present analysis based on both nuclear microsatellites and the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) gene which unambiguously argues for a hybrid origin of Japanese Carcinus. Despite the presence of mitochondrial lineages derived from both C. maenas and C. a

SUBMITTER: Darling JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3056785 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature