Mitochondrial Restriction Enzyme Screening and Phylogenetic Relatedness in the Hard Shell Clam Genus 'Mercenaria'. Part 1. Methodology Development

摘要

Development of successful breeding programs for the hard shell clam, Mercenaria, has been hindered by the length of time between the actual breeding event and acquisition of results. The development of new technologies has eliminated many of these problems and examination of mitochondrial nucleotide diversity is expected to facilitate the selection of breeding stock by distinguishing between Mercenaria stocks of different geographic origin. Appropriate methodologies for extraction of clam mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for subsequent digestion by restriction enzymes have been developed. Procedures for restriction enzyme digestion have been refined and the appropriate enzymes for clam mtDNA analysis have been determined. These restriction enzymes yield informative restriction fragment patterns which are easily resolved with an inexpensive and uncomplicated apparatus.