Do self-fertilization and genetic drift promote a very low genetic variability in the allotetraploidBulinus truncatus(Gastropoda: Planorbidae) populations?

Abstract

Summary: Bulinus truncatus, one of the intermediate hosts of the genusSchistosomais an hermaphrodite freshwater snail species occupying a variety of environments over almost all Africa. These environments are subjected to large variations in water availability.B. truncatusis allotetraploid and its populations exhibit various frequencies of aphallic individuals (unable to reproduce as male). Both traits probably favour a reproduction by self-fertilization. Here we investigate the genetic structure of populations ofB. truncatusof Niger and Ivory Coast using protein electrophoresis to analyse the influence of the environment and of both the last traits. To obtain an estimate of the true heterozygosity in this allotetraploid species, we analyse independently the two diploid loci at each tetraploid locus. Our study indicates (i) an extremely low intrapopulation polymorphism with most alleles fixed and the total absence of heterozygotes and (ii) low differentiation between populations. These results indicate high gene flow between populations. However, the existence of private alleles sometimes at high frequency, the low polymorphism and the lack of heterozygotes point to the role of both genetic drift and self-fertilization, the second amplifying the genetic consequences of the first.