Active buoyancy adjustment increases dispersal potential in benthic marine animals.

While the study of dispersal and connectivity in the ocean typically centres on pelagic species and planktonic larval stages of benthic species, the present work explores an overlooked locomotor means in post-settlement benthic stages that redefines their dispersal potential. Members of the echinoderm class Holothuroidea colonize a diversity of marine environments world-wide, where they play key ecological and economical roles, making their conservation a priority. Holothuroids are commonly called sea cucumbers or sea slugs to reflect their slow movements and are assumed to disperse chiefly through pelagic larvae.

Barcoding Atlantic Canada's mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic marine fishes.

DNA barcode sequences were developed from 557 mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic teleost specimens collected in waters off Atlantic Canada. Confident morphological identifications were available for 366 specimens, of 118 species and 93 genera, which yielded 328 haplotypes. Five of the species were novel to the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD).

Influence of Benthic Macrofauna as a Spatial Structuring Agent for Juvenile Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) on the Eastern Scotian Shelf, Atlantic Canada.

We examined the habitat of juvenile haddock on the eastern Scotian Shelf (off Nova Scotia, Canada) in relation to grab-sampled benthic macrofaunal invertebrate species assemblages in order to determine whether there were significant differences in benthic macrofauna between areas of historically persistent high and low juvenile haddock abundance. Our analyses were conducted over two spatial scales in each of two years: among banks (Emerald, Western and Sable Island), approximately 60 km distant from each other, and between areas of high and low juvenile haddock abundance at distances of 10 to 30 km-all in an area that had not experienced groundfishing in the decade prior to sampling. We also examined fine-scale (10s of metres) within-site variability in the macrofauna and used surficial sediment characteristics, along with hydrographic variables, to identify environmental correlates.

Genetic structure of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a commercially exploited, key forage-fish species found in the boreal waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. We examined the population structure of capelin throughout their range in the Canadian northwest Atlantic Ocean using genetic-based methods. Capelin collected at ten beach and five demersal spawning locations over the period 2002 through 2008 (N = 3,433 fish) were genotyped using six polymorphic microsatellite loci.

Proteomic analysis of eggs from Mytilus edulis females differing in mitochondrial DNA transmission mode.

Many bivalves have an unusual mechanism of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) inheritance called doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) in which distinctly different genomes are inherited through the female (F genome) and male (M genome) lineages. In fertilized eggs that will develop into male embryos, the sperm mitochondria remain in an aggregation, which is believed to be delivered to the primordial germ cells and passed to the next generation through the sperm. In fertilized eggs that will develop into female embryos, the sperm mitochondria are dispersed throughout the developing embryo and make little if any contribution to the next generation.

From sea to sea: Canada's three oceans of biodiversity.

Evaluating and understanding biodiversity in marine ecosystems are both necessary and challenging for conservation. This paper compiles and summarizes current knowledge of the diversity of marine taxa in Canada's three oceans while recognizing that this compilation is incomplete and will change in the future. That Canada has the longest coastline in the world and incorporates distinctly different biogeographic provinces and ecoregions (e.

Paternal mtDNA and maleness are co-inherited but not causally linked in mytilid mussels.

Background: In marine mussels of the genus Mytilus there are two mitochondrial genomes. One is transmitted through the female parent, which is the normal transmission route in animals, and the other is transmitted through the male parent which is an unusual phenomenon. In males the germ cell line is dominated by the paternal mitochondrial genome and the somatic cell line by the maternal.

Pleistocene glaciation events shape genetic structure across the range of the American lobster, Homarus americanus.

A north/south discontinuity along the northeastern coast of North America in the genetic structure of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) was detected using a suite of 13 microsatellite loci assessed using spatial analyses. Population genetic data laid over existing data on physiographic changes and sea-surface temperatures were used to reconstruct the Pleistocene distribution of this species. A postglacial northern-edge colonization model best explains the relative genetic homogeneity of the northern region compared to the southern region centred in the Gulf of Maine.

Genetic variation underlying protein expression in eggs of the marine mussel Mytilus edulis.

Study of the genetic basis of gene expression variation is central to attempts to understand the causes of evolutionary change. Although there are many transcriptomics studies estimating genetic variance and heritability in model organisms such as humans there is a lack of equivalent proteomics studies. In the present study, the heritability underlying egg protein expression was estimated in the marine mussel Mytilus.

Nucleotide content gradients in maternally and paternally inherited mitochondrial genomes of the mussel Mytilus.

Several studies have shown that in vertebrate mtDNAs the nucleotide content at fourfold degenerate sites is well correlated with the site's time of exposure to the single-strand state, as predicted from the asymmetrical model of mtDNA replication. Here we examine whether the same explanation may hold for the regional variation in nucleotide content in the maternal and paternal mtDNAs of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. The origin of replication of the heavy strand (O(H)) of these genomes has been previously established.

Segregation of sperm mitochondria in two- and four-cell embryos of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis: Implications for the mechanism of doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondrial DNA.

Species of the family Mytilidae have 2 mitochondrial genomes, one that is transmitted through the egg and one that is transmitted through the sperm. In the Mytilus edulis species complex (M. edulis, M.

Development, characterisation, inheritance, and cross-species utility of American lobster (Homarus americanus) microsatellite and mtDNA PCR-RFLP markers.

Effective management of exploited species demands contemporary knowledge of population structure and mating patterns. Genetic markers can prove useful in providing this knowledge. Despite its commercial importance, genetic markers for American lobster (Homarus americanus) are limited.