Abstract
The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) are considered as the most competitive invaders in freshwaters of Europe and North America. Although shell characteristics exist to differentiate both species, phenotypic plasticity in the genus Dreissena does not always allow a clear identification. Therefore, the need to find an accurate identification method is essential. DNA barcoding has been proven to be an adequate procedure to discriminate species. The cytochrome c oxidase subunit I mitochondrial gene (COI) is considered as the standard barcode for animals. We tested the use of this gene as an efficient DNA barcode and found that it allow rapid and accurate identification of adult Dreissena individuals.
Highlights
Biological invasions are a topical issue in today’s world since they are the biggest threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction
We demonstrate that restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) could be used as an inexpensive method to distinguish between zebra and quagga mussel
The Operational Taxonomic Units” (OTU) method revealed, by a NJ tree, two clusters separated by a genetic distance of 18.5% (Figure 1a), which is higher than the 3% threshold typically used for species delimitation with c oxidase subunit I mitochondrial gene (COI) (Hebert et al 2003b)
Summary
Biological invasions are a topical issue in today’s world since they are the biggest threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction. The first, and probably the biggest, problem for scientists is to deal with widely divergent perceptions of the criteria defining “invasive” species (Colautti and MacIsaac 2004). In the management and policy field, such. Jonathan Marescaux & Karine Van Doninck / ZooKeys 365: 235–244 (2013)
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