Research Article: Molecular phylogeny of bivalve families (Arcidae, Chamidae, Margaritidae, Ostreidae, Veneridae) in the Persian Gulf

Bivalvia is one of the least studied classes of the Persian Gulf. A survey and molecular analysis was conducted to determine bivalve species diversity in the Persian Gulf. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of barcoding data on bivalves of the Persian Gulf. We examined 40 individuals representing 8 species, 6 genera and 5 families. We collected samples from Hengam, Larak and Qeshm Islands and Bandar Lengeh in Persian Gulf, Iran. After DNA extraction, mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (16SrDNA) and Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Based on obtained 16SrDNA and COI gene sequences and maximum parsimony, neighbor joining and maximum likelihood trees of these genes there was no overlap between maximum Kimura 2- parameter distance among conspecifics. Most species formed agglutinate sequence units with a small amount of changes. Eventually, comparison of the 8 selected studied species with metadata from India, Brazil, Japan, China, and America exposed that these species in Persian Gulf are classified in sister clades with high bootstraps except Pinctada. Since there is not much work on bivalves identification in the Persian Gulf, larger sampling and more research is needed to investigate mollusc diversity in this area.