A LARGE-SUBUNIT MITOCHONDRIAL RIBOSOMAL DNA-SEQUENCE TRANSLOCATED TO THE NUCLEAR GENOME OF 2 STONE CRABS (MENIPPE)

Two DNA sequences that appear to be homologous to large-subunit mitoch ondrial ribosomal RNA genes have been identified in the stone crabs Me nippe mercenaria and M. adina. Amplification from whole genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with oligonucleotide primers based on conserved portions of large-subunit mitochondrial rRNA genes consiste ntly amplified two products of similar length (565 and 567 bp). These products differed at 3% of their nucleotide bases, and could be distin guished by a HindIII site. Only one of these sequences (designated the A sequence) was detected by PCR in purified mitochondrial DNA. The ot her (designated the B sequence) hybridized to total genomic DNA at a l evel consistent with a nuclear genome location. It is unlikely that th e type B product would have been recognized as a nuclear copy by exami nation of its sequence alone. This is the first report of a mitochondr ial gene sequence translocated into the nuclear genome of a crustacean .