The aim of this project is to evaluate the genetic determinism for the presence of colours observed in the nacreous layer of Pinctada margaritifera via a comparative study of sequence and expression polymorphism of genes responsible for albinism vs. coloured phenotypes. For this candidate genes are selected and a subtractive and suppressive hybridization bank is carried out between the two phenotypes in order to isolate the genes involved in presence/absence of colour. The expression levels of the selected genes are then compared between phenotypes by QPCR. In parallel, sequence polymorphism is analysed and the resulting proteins are characterized.
