Genetic diversity analysis of snail species (Mollusca: Gastropoda) using molecular marker technology

Members of the Phylum Mollusca can be used as model animals to study the reproductive barriers, for evolution and gamete recognition proteins for which they must be correctly identified and classified. Phenotypic plasticity results in changes in shell morphology, leading to the development of synonyms and homonyms of species, which necessitates Molecular Characterization. Fifteen species of molluscs collected from different agro-ecosystems of Faisalabad were characterized using polymorphic RAPD dacamers. Total of 114 fragments amplified and only 90 were found polymorphic showing 78.94% polymorphism. The range of amplified RAPD fragments was from 7 to 9 with an average of 7.6 per primer. The overall mean band frequency ranged between 0.27 – 0.68 with an average value of 0.41. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that the variance component among and within populations was 11% and 89% respectively, which is significantly different at probability less than 0.001. Close association was observed among the species of genus Ariophanta and Oxychilus draparnaudi, Monacha catiana and these species were found to be closely clustered in one group while the species Zooctecus insularis is distantly related with rest of the species in this group showing it to be genetically distant from the same group. The cluster analysis shows that Juvenile Zooctecus insularis lies separately in cladogram, as it might be a new species. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences-JBES is an open-access scholarly research journal, published by International Network for Natural Sciences-INNSPUB. JBES published original scientific articles in different field of Environmental Sciences and Biodiversity. JBES published 2 Volume and 12 issue per calendar year.J. Bio. Env. Sci. 10(1), 26-35, January 2017