Mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity and its potential causes in the marine periwinkle Melarhaphe neritoides (Mollusca: Gastropoda).

ABSTRACT: We report the presence of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hyperdiversity in the marine periwinkle Melarhaphe neritoides (Linnaeus, 1758), the first such case among marine gastropods. Our dataset consisted of concatenated 16S-COI-Cytb gene fragments. We used Bayesian analyses to investigate three putative causes underlying genetic variation, and estimated the mtDNA mutation rate, possible signatures of selection and the effective population size of the species in the Azores archipelago. The mtDNA hyperdiversity in M. neritoides is characterized by extremely high haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.999 ± 0.001), high nucleotide diversity (π = 0.013 ± 0.001), and neutral nucleotide diversity above the threshold of 5% (π_syn = 0.0677). Haplotype richness i

SUBMITTER: Fourdrilis S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5068447 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature