Overview on the European green crab Carcinus spp. (Portunidae, Decapoda), one of the most famous marine invaders and ecotoxicological models.

Green crabs (Carcinus, Portunidae) include two species native to Europe--Carcinus aestuarii (Mediterranean species) and Carcinus maenas (Atlantic species). These small shore crabs (maximal length carapace, approximately 10 cm) show rapid growth, high fecundity, and long planktonic larval stages that facilitate broad dispersion. Carcinus spp. have a high tolerance to fluctuations of environmental factors including oxygen, salinity, temperature, xenobiotic compounds, and others. Shipping of Carcinus spp. over the past centuries has resulted in its invasions of America, Asia, and Australia. Classified as one of the world's 100 worst invaders by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Carcinus spp. are the most widely distributed intertidal crabs in the world. Their voracious predatory activity makes them strong interactors in local communities, and they are recognized as a model for invasiveness in marine systems as well as a sentinel species in ecotoxicology. This review shows an exhaustive analysis of the literature on the life cycle, diversity, physiological tolerance, genomic investigations, ecotoxicological use, historical invasion, control programs, and putative economical valorization of shore crabs.

Biological indices, energy reserves, steroid hormones and sexual maturity in the infaunal bivalve Scrobicularia plana from three sites differing by their level of contamination.

The aim of this work was to investigate in situ biometric (condition index, hepato-somatic index, gonado-somatic index), biochemical (glycogen, lipids, sexual steroids) and histological (sex, sexual maturation stage) variables in the infaunal bivalve Scrobicularia plana. First, the reproductive cycle of S. plana was assessed by collecting bivalves from a reference site (the bay of Bourgneuf, Fr) in April, May, July, September and November 2005 and in January and March 2006. Then, S. plana were collected at three key periods of their sexual cycle (March 2006, beginning of gametogenesis; June 2006, spawning; and September 2006, spent) in three sites differing by their level of contamination (bay of Bourgneuf, reference site; Loire and Seine estuaries; Fr, impacted sites). The reproductive cycle of S. plana was well defined with a clear spawning period between May and July, sexual repose from November to January. Development of the gonad began in January and ended in September. Sex-ratio was determined during spawning and the influence of sex on biochemical variables was examined. Progesterone, 17beta-estradiol and testosterone levels in the gonad of S. plana were close to those reported in other bivalves. This study is the first to demonstrate in situ influence of site, sex and sexual maturity on energy reserves, and sexual steroids in S. plana. Even if interpretation of results is complex due to interferences between natural and anthropogenic factors, S. plana is a suitable species for estuarine studies and a better understanding of its reproduction will permit to assess impacts of environmental pollutants.

Structure and level of genetic diversity in various bean types evidenced with microsatellite markers isolated from a genomic enriched library.

We have constructed a common bean genomic library enriched for microsatellite motifs (ATA), (CA), (CAC) and (GA). After screening, 60% of the clones selected from the library enriched for the (ATA) repeat contained microsatellites versus 21% of the clones from the library enriched for (GA) (CA) and (CAC) repeats. Fifteen primer pairs have been developed allowing for the amplification of SSR loci. We have evaluated the genetic diversity of these loci between 45 different bean lines belonging to nine various quality types. A total of 81 alleles were detected at the 15 microsatellite loci with an average of 5.3 alleles per locus. We have investigated the origin of allelic size polymorphism at the locus PvATA20 in which the number of repeats ranges from 24 to 85. We have related these large differences in repeat number to unequal crossing-over between repeated DNA regions. The diversity analysis revealed contrasted levels of variability according to the bean type. The lower level was evidenced for the very fine French bean, showing the effect of breeders intensive selection.