Défense de thèse de doctorat en sciences biologiques : "freshwater clams"

Androgenesis: origin and evolution in the freshwater clam genus Corbicula spp.

Jury

Serge ARON (ULB), Thierry BACKELJAU (I.R. Sciences naturelles de Belgique), Jean-François FLOT (University College London), Clothilde HEUDE (Université de Caen Basse-Normandie), Patrick KESTEMONT, président (UNamur), Karine VAN DONINCK, promoteur (UNamur)

Résumé

The freshwater clams Corbicula spp. are well-known invasive bivalves in European and American freshwaters. They also mostly reproduce through a rare and odd reproductive mode: androgenesis or “all-male asexuality”, which is a form of strict paternal inheritance.

The genus Corbicula is the only animal taxon in which this odd and very rare reproductive mode is highly widespread and successful, offering a unique and powerful system to investigate androgenesis and unusual reproductive modes. Besides determining the origin of invasive Corbicula lineages and resolving the complex taxonomy of the genus, the main aim of this thesis was to use a variety of molecular marker-based methods and analytical techniques to explore the origin and evolution of androgenesis in the genus. We also investigated the transition from sexuality to androgenesis by comparing the spermatogenesis process between sexual and asexual clams and used classical histological and advanced cytometry techniques to study the DNA content variation in male germ cells. Taken together, we widened the understanding of the evolution of androgenesis in the genus Corbicula. This is of broad interest for important basic biology questions such as the evolution of asexuality, the maintenance of sex, and the transition between reproductive modes.

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