Mitochondrial and microsatellite genetic differentiation of the flat oyster Ostrea edulis along the european coasts, and comparison with allozyme data

Natural populations of the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, have been harvested since Roman times. This species is distributed along the European Atlantic coasts, from Norway to Morocco, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and Black sea coasts. Previous studies, based on allozymes, have concluded that isolation by distance is taking place in the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic ocean. Because of the presumed non neutrality of these markers, another approach was made to examine the genetic differentiation of this species using nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial markers, both considered as neutral, and to compare the results to those observed with allozymes.