Abstract
BackgroundAlthough Tellinidae is one of the largest and most diverse families of bivalves, its taxonomy is utterly chaotic. This is mainly due to the morphological diversity and homoplasy displayed by their shells and to the scarcity of the molecular phylogenetic studies performed on them. A molecular cytogenetic analysis of four tellin shell species, Bosemprella incarnata, Macomangulus tenuis, Moerella donacina and Serratina serrata, was performed. To molecularly characterize the analyzed specimens, the sequence of a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) was also studied.ResultsThe karyotypes of the four species were composed of different amounts of bi-armed and telocentric chromosomes. The chromosomal mapping of 45S and 5S rDNA and H3 histone gene clusters by fluorescent in situ hybridization also revealed conspicuous differences on the distribution of these DNA sequences on their karyotypes. Vertebrate type telomeric sequences were located solely on both ends of each chromosome in all four tellin shells.ConclusionWe present clear evidence of the valuable information provided by FISH signals in both analyzing chromosome evolution in Tellinidae and as a further tool in identifying tellin shell specimens for molecular phylogenies.
Highlights
Tellinidae is one of the largest and most diverse families of bivalves, its taxonomy is utterly chaotic
The taxonomy of tellin shells is utterly chaotic, mainly as a consequence of the morphological diversity and homoplasy displayed by their shells [1, 2]
The specimens were identified as Moerella donacina (Linnaeus, 1758), Serratina serrata (Brocchi, 1814), Macomangulus tenuis and Bosemprella incarnata (Linnaeus, 1758) according to shell morphology criteria
Summary
Tellinidae is one of the largest and most diverse families of bivalves, its taxonomy is utterly chaotic This is mainly due to the morphological diversity and homoplasy displayed by their shells and to the scarcity of the molecular phylogenetic studies performed on them. The few molecular analyses including Limecola and Serratina sequences [3,4,5] have challenged traditional systematics and demonstrated improper placement and/or misidentification of some of the analyzed specimens. To overcome these difficulties and clarify the classification of tellin shells further identification criteria are required in order to integrate traditional cladistic and molecular phylogenetic studies
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