Negative Evidence for Sex-Linked Heteroplasmy in the Nemertean Worm Notospermus geniculatus (Delle Chiaje, 1822)

Diletta Santovito, Leonardo Brustenga, Livia Lucentini (), Federico Plazzi, Stefania Chiesa and Marco Passamonti
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Diletta Santovito: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Leonardo Brustenga: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Livia Lucentini: Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, Via Elce di Sotto, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Federico Plazzi: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Stefania Chiesa: Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), 00144 Rome, Italy
Marco Passamonti: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-10

Abstract: Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI) is considered one of the major exceptions to the common rules of eukaryotic cell biology and germline formation. DUI is known in bivalves, which belong to the phylum Mollusca; conversely, no DUI evidence was found in some gastropod species. Investigating the presence of DUI in Nemertea is of particular interest given the fact that these spiralian animals are suggested to be a sister group of Neotrochozoa (i.e., Mollusca and Annelida). DUI species are normally detected as having two sex-associated mtDNAs, which can be highly divergent. In this work, the presence of sex-associated mitochondrial genomes was investigated in the nemertean species Notospermus geniculatus and no evidence was found for DUI. Even if these are preliminary results, negative evidence is still interesting because of the high importance of the DUI phenomenon in many research fields, where it plays a pivotal role in understanding eukaryotic evolution. For this reason, further research on DUI species detection should be highly encouraged, as well as the publication of negative results beside positive ones, as is the case for the present study, improving the knowledge on the biology and ecology of a broad spectrum of marine species.

Keywords: DUI; Nemertea; heteroplasmy; sex-linked heteroplasmy; Notospermus geniculatus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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