Genetic analysis of ten polymorphic enzyme loci in littorina saxatilis (Prosobranchia: Mollusca)

Abstract

Electrophoretic surveys of natural populations have shown Littorina saxatilis to be variable at many enzyme loci. Laboratory breeding experiments, which involved the phenotypic examination of selected parental pairs and their offspring, confirmed, for ten loci, that this variation results from the segregation of codominant alleles. The loci studied were Mpi, Pgi, Pgm-1, Pgm-2, Aat-1, Aat-2, Ap-2, Lap-1, Odh and Idh-2. Certain pairs of loci showed evidence of weak linkage; no cases of strong linkage were detected. Crosses between male L. saxatilis and female L. arcana produced viable offspring with normal segregation of parental alleles. Attempts at the reciprocal cross have so far proved unsuccessful. © 1986 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.