Abstract
Limited field trials for potentially disease resistant Asian cupped oysters were recently initiated in the central Atlantic coastal region of North America. We have developed a simple and sensitive genetic assay that unambiguously distinguishes the native Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin) from two of its exotic Asian congeners, C. gigas (Thunberg) and C. ariakensis (Wakiya). Homologous fragments (443 nt) of the mitochondrial rRNA large subunit were amplified from, and sequenced for, these three commercially important species of oysters. C. virginica exhibits 85.5 and 84% sequence similarity to C. gigas and C. ariakensis (respectively) and contains seven additional nucleotides in the amplified 16S gene fragment. The two Asian species do not differ in gene length and display 95.1% sequence similarity. Numerous endonuclease restriction site differences are apparent among the three oyster species and we present a polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism strategy that can distinguish these species. This methodology will prove valuable in monitoring the ecological consequences, at all life history stages, of trial introductions of Asian Crassostrea species into this region.
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