| Among oysters, species of Crassostrea (Sacco, 1897) are the most attractive to aquaculture. In Brazil, the genus is represented by C. rhizophorae (Guilding, 1828) and C. brasiliana (Lamarck, 1819). Because the maturation and breeding technology is not well developed for these species, aquaculturists need a reliable method to decide the correct time to place spat collectors in the field, and to identify both species, which are morphologically similar. In this study a specific Multiplex PCR protocol was developed, using one pair of universal primers from 18S rDNA as a positive control and a pair of specific primers for each target species. The sensitivity and specificity of the protocol was evaluated. It detected C. rhizophorae DNA in low concentrations, and... |
