Abstract

Mithrax spinosissimus is an overexploited spider crab that inhabits coral and rocky reef ecosystems in the Caribbean Sea and the Florida Keys in U.S. It possesses ecological and economical importance in artisanal fisheries. There is a lack of information about molecular markers for conservation genetics, phylogeography, and ecotoxicology studies. From October 2011 to March 2012 collections of muscle tissues from M. spinosissimus were taken from oceanic and coastal islands from Colombian Caribbean. We had sequenced and assembled the genome of a male crab using the 454 GS-FLX and MIRA3 software. We chose repetition motifs between 150 - 350 bp and we designed too species-specific primers with PRIMER3. For population genetics analysis we tested 44 primer pairs, founding nine of them useful. For the mitochondrial genome assembly, we carried out bioinformatics analyses and PCR procedures. For phylogeography and genetic structure analysis we amplified sequences from mitochondrial regions COI and D-loop. Both of the molecu-lar markers assayed were useful to find population genetic structure and phylogeographical differences of M. spinosissi-mus populations from Colombian Caribbean islands. Finally, by using genetic databases and genome information from this crab as a model for gene detection, we carried out a preliminary detection of genes from the Cytochrome P450 family for future testing of crabs from polluted places. Our results could be important for the detection of genetic stocks of this crustacean, and possibly too for future ecotoxicology studies. This work may be useful for management recommen-dations for marine protected areas and their conservation.

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