Ref ID : 734
Manuela Pagani, Claudia Ricci, and Anna Maria Bolzern; Comparison of five strains of a parthenogenetic species, Macrotrachela quadricornifera (Rotifera, Bdelloidea). II. Isoenzymatic patterns. Hydrobiologia 211:157-163, 1991
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Five clonal populations belonging to the parthenogenetic species Macrotrachela quadricornifera were analyzed electrophoretically. The populations stemmed from samples collected from different environments paired geographically: water bodies (C, P, F) and terrestrial mosses (M1, M2). The six enzymes considered were: leucine amono peptidase (LAP), arginine phosphokinase (APK), glucose phosphate isomerase (PGI), alpha and beta esterases (EST) and malic enzyme (ME). The results are interpreted under the assumption that bdelloid rotifers have a diploid chromosome set. A genetic interpretation of the banding patterns was attempted. A relatively high degree of enzymatic polymorphism among the strains was found. Only 27% of alleles are shared by all strains. The relationship among the strains was examined by single-link cluster analysis: we can distinguish 'moss' and 'water' populations, regardless of their geographic origins, and in accord with the results of a life-history traits study on the same strains. The differences in life-history parameters among the five strains may be due not only to phenotypic plasticity induced by the environment, but to real genetic divergence.