A diagnostic molecular marker for zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) and potentially co-occurring bivalves: mitochondrial COI.

ABSTRACT

We report diagnostic differences in the nucleotide sequences of a 710-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) from the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and potentially co-occurring bivalves the quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis); the Asiatic clam (Corbicula fluminea), the dark false mussel (Mytilopsis leucophaeata), and the wedge clam (Rangia cuneata). The COI sequence of the deep-water "profunda" phenotype of the quagga mussel was nearly identical to that of shallow-water quagga mussels. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in this portion of COI produced species-specific differences in fragment numbers and sizes that could be used as diagnostic markers to distinguish the free-living larvae produced by these bivalves.