General paper
Electrophoretic study on the taxonomic relationship of the two morphologically very similar sea-urchins, Echinostrephus aciculatus and E. molaris

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-0491(87)90356-7Get rights and content

Abstract

  • 1.

    1. The taxonomic relationship of two morphologically very similar sea-urchins, Echinostrephus aciculatus A. Agassiz and E. molaris (Blainville), was examined by means of gel electrophoresis of 18 different enzyme systems.

  • 2.

    2. The results demonstrated that the two species shared common allozymes at 25 of the 26 genetic loci studied here and that the Nei's genetic identity value (I = 0.963) obtained between the two species was comparable to those already reported between conspecific local populations of many other animals.

  • 3.

    3. Their genetic similarity verified by the present electrophoretic study and their morphological and ecological similarity strongly suggest that E. aciculatus and E. molaris may belong to one and the same species.

References (18)

  • N. Matsuoka

    Biochemical phylogeny of the sea-urchins of the family Toxopneustidae

    Comp. Biochem. Physiol.

    (1985)
  • J.C. Avise

    Systematic value of electrophoretic data

    Syst. Zool.

    (1974)
  • J.C. Avise

    Genetic differentiation during speciation

  • F.J. Ayala et al.

    Enzyme variability in the Drosophila willistoni group—VI. Genic variation in natural populations of Drosophila willistoni

    Genetics

    (1972)
  • F.J. Ayala

    Genetic differentiation during speciation process

  • F.J. Ayala
  • B.J. Davis

    Disc electrophoresis—II. Method and application to human serum proteins

    A.N.Y. Acad. Sci.

    (1964)
  • A. Ferguson
  • J.L. Hubby et al.

    A molecular approach to the study of genic heterozygosity in natural populations—I. The number of alleles at different loci in Drosophila pseudoobscura

    Genetics

    (1966)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (10)

  • Genetic distance and enzyme variation in local populations of two echinoderms from Japanese waters

    1995, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part B: Biochemistry and
  • High genetic variability in the starfish Distolasterias nippon revealed by enzyme electrophoresis

    1993, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part B: Biochemistry and
  • Genetic variation in the starfish Coscinasterias acutispina

    1991, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part B: Biochemistry and
  • Enzyme variation within the population of the sea-urchin, Glyptocidaris crenularis, from Japanese waters

    1990, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part B: Biochemistry and
  • Evolutionary relationships of sea-urchins at the molecular level

    1990, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part B: Biochemistry and
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text