Comparison of parthenogenetic Artemia populations using PCR-RFLP of the ribosomal ITS1 and ITS2.

The internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of the nuclear ribosomal genes were amplified through PCR for 15 different populations of Artemia brine shrimp. Each PCR product was digested with 4 different restriction enzymes to produce restriction fragment patterns which were scored using the Restdist and Dollop programs from PHYLIP. Results indicate that the marker is highly conserved even among parthenogenetic populations while also suggesting a possible subdivision of the parthenogenetic clade based on geographical locations