Identification of brown mussel (Perna indica) larvae using molecular tool

Species identification of larvae is crucial in understanding larval distribution and population ecology of bivalves. There is great prospects for brown mussel (Perna indica) mariculture and therefore the natural spat collection as a source of seed for culture gains importance. It is critical to precisely identify the larvae of the species in order to predict the spat fall for successful spat collection. The larvae of different bivalve species have similar morphology which makes it difficult to identify the species by microscopy. The partial coding sequences of the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase c subunit 1 (CO1) of P. indica and other related bivalve species were compared and a pair of species specific PCR (SSPCR) primers was designed that can specifically amplify the DNA of P. indica. The assay conducted to establish the specificity of SSPCR primers produced 291 bp PCR product, only with the target species. The SSPCR conducted with individual veliger larva sorted from the field collected plankton samples have confirmed the presence of P. indica. The SSPCR with the whole plankton samples showed presence of the species from the last week of May until the last week of June 2011