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Abstract Freshwater mussels play an important role in many aquatic ecosystems, but little is known about their biodiversity and conservation genetics. In order to provide genetic information of freshwater mussels in China, microsatellite markers were used to investigate genetic diversity of five species of freshwater mussels in family Unionidae, Hyriopsis cumingii, Cristaria plicata, Lamprotula caveata, Schistodesmus lampreyanus , Acuticosta chinensis, which were collected from Qinglan Lake, Jiangxi Province. 8 primers for polymorphic DNA microsatellite loci were sieved from 20 primers which were developed from oyster mussel (Epioblasma capsaeformis) (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in North America and freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera L.) (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae) in Central Europe. Allelic richness ranged from 2 to 6 alleles per locus and averaged from 2.8750 to 4.000 alleles for five mussel populations. Heterozygosity levels varied from 0.4417 to 0.6333 for average observed heterozygosity (HO) and 0.4430 to 0.5706 for average expected heterozygosity (HE), average polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.368 to 0.498, which revealed that five populations showed higher genetic diversity. Many loci in different populations deviated from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. Genetic distance (D) among five mussel populations ranged from 0.6228 to 1.4724, the maximal D was 1.4724 between H. cumingii and C. plicata, and the minimal D was 0.6228 between S. lampreyanus and L. caveata. The study of genetic diversity for freshwater mussels can provide guidelines for resource conservation and genetic improvement.
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Received: 15 September 2006
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