Abstract
In the present study, molecular phylogeny of bivalve family Veneridae (Mollusca:Bivalvia) was analysed using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of 21 species belonging to different subfamilies of Veneridae. ITS of ribosomal DNA can be utilised for delineating evolu- tionary and genetic relationships between closely related taxa. ITS region of Paphia malabarica belonging to subfamily Tapetinae and Meretrix casta belonging to meretricinae was sequenced. Total genomic DNA was extracted from the adductor muscle using CTAB protocol and the internal transcribed spacer region of nuclear ribosomal DNA was PCR amplified and sequenced using ITS (ITS1 and ITS2) forward and re- verse primers. Total length of sequence was found to be 895 bp in Paphia malabarica and 785 bp in Meretrix casta. GC contents in the se- quences were found to be 58.99% and 64.68% respectively in Paphia malabarica and Meretrix casta. ITS1 region of Paphia malabarica con- sisted of 393 bp with GC content 58.12% and 309 bp with 63.75% GC content in Meretrix casta. ITS2 region generated 248bp with 63% GC content in Paphia malabarica and 240bp with 72.06% GC content in Meretrix casta. 5.8S region rendered 157bp with 60% GC content in Pa- phia malabarica and 138bp with 61.32% GC content in Meretrix casta. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using Neighbor-Joining and Maxi- mum-Parsimony methods. The analysis produced trees with similar topology. The tree topologies indicated two clades with three well resolved groups. Phylogenetic analysis supported the morphological classification and monophyly of the family Veneridae.
Highlights
The family Veneridae is a cosmopolitan and ubiquitous bivalve family, commonly known as “Venus clams”
The entire internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was amplified from 10 individuals of the two clam species
In all cases PCR yielded a single band of approximately 900 base pairs in length for Paphia malabarica and 800 base pairs in length for Meretrix casta
Summary
The family Veneridae is a cosmopolitan and ubiquitous bivalve family, commonly known as “Venus clams”. There are about 800 extant species currently ordered in to 12 subfamilies according to a morphology - based classification [1]. Most of the Venerid clams are ecologically important and commercially valuable. Veneridae contribute a significant proportion of world’s edible bivalve fishery. The members of the family exhibit morphological parallelism among evolutionary distant species and shell diversification among closely related species. This complicates the study of phylogenetic relationship among Venerid clams. New approaches and methods employing molecular markers were utilised for phylogenetic study of Veneridae
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