RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ALLOZYMIC HETEROZYGOSITY, BODY SIZE, AND SURVIVAL TO NATURAL ANOXIC STRESS IN THE PALOURDE RUDITAPES-DECUSSATUS L (BIVALVIA, VENERIDAE)
P. Borsa et al., RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ALLOZYMIC HETEROZYGOSITY, BODY SIZE, AND SURVIVAL TO NATURAL ANOXIC STRESS IN THE PALOURDE RUDITAPES-DECUSSATUS L (BIVALVIA, VENERIDAE), Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, 155(2), 1992, pp. 169-181
Samples of the bivalve Ruditapes decussatus collected in the lagoon of
Thau (France, Mediterranean) after a period of natural anoxia ("malai
gue") that caused significant mortality were compared to other samples
that had not experienced anoxia. Survival to malaigue was positively
related to both shell length and heterozygosity at seven putative enzy
me loci. Heterozygosity at locus Pgm-l was significantly higher in the
sample of survivors than in the control; this was also observed in a
sample of individuals monitored over a malaigue induced in artificial
conditions. These results suggest that heterozygosity at locus Pgm-l c
ould be directly involved in determining the physiological mechanism o
f resistance to anoxic stress, but a genetic explanation involving the
role of gametic disequilibrium is also discussed.