[Study of mitochondrial DNA in Helix land snails by PCR-RFLP]

Sometimes the morphological criteria--used to distinguish between 4 land snails species (Helix pomatia, Helix lucorum, Helix aspersa aspersa and Helix aspersa maxima)--are little pronounced and ambiguous. We have selected mitochondrial DNA, a widely used molecular marker, in order to have a reliable technique of distinction between the 4 studied species. After extraction, mtDNA is amplified by PCR and digested with several enzymes. Among them, Dra I give restriction fragments of different length depending on species. So, owing to PCR-RFLP of mtDNA, we describe here a reliable method for identifying 4 snail species.