High incidence of heteroplasmy in the mtDNA of a natural population of the spider crab Maja brachydactyla

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230243
• Publication Date: 2020-03-19T17:34:34Z
• Authors: Elba Rodríguez-Pena; Patricia Verísimo; Luis Fernández; Ana González-Tizón; Covadonga Bárcena; Andrés Martínez-Lage
• Keywords: Heteroplasmy

Mitochondria are mostly inherited by maternal via, that is, only mitochondria from eggs retained in the embryos. However, this general assumption of uniparentally transmitted, homoplasmic and non-recombining mitochondrial genomes is becoming more controversial. The presence different sequences mtDNA within a cell or individual, known as heteroplasmy, increasingly reported several taxon animals, such molluscs, arthropods vertebrates. In work, considerable frequency heteroplasmy were detected COI 16S genes spider crab Maja brachydactyla, possibly associated to hybridisation with congeneric species squinado. This finding fact keep mind before addressing molecular analyses based on markers, since inheritance could lead erroneous results. As M. brachydactyla commercial species, an important aspect take into account for fisheries management resource, effective population size be overestimated.