- (2015) Volume 3, Issue 4
MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION AND PHYLOGENETIC ASSESSMENT OF SOME MARINE CATFISHES OF THE BAY OF BENGAL
The present study was designed to analyze partial sequence of Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene for species identification and phylogenetic relationships among 6 species of catfish sampled from Cox’s Bazar. The nucleotide sequences of COI consisted of about 652 nucleotide base pairs. The mitochondrial COI region of all samples was successfully amplified using PCR. The comprehensive barcoding identification results were based on GenBank databases. Database revealed definitive identity in the range of 96%-98% for consensus sequences of six species namely Osteogeneiosus militaris, Netuma thalassinus, Plicofollis tenuispinis, Plicofollis polystaphylodon, Hemiarius sona, and Arius venosus. Multiple sequence alignment was done using examined sequences and phylogenetic tree was constructed where species in the present study were clustered independently within their corresponding genera. Among the 10 fish samples, morphologically 5 different species were identified while using DNA barcoding of 10 samples, 6 different species were found. Moreover, among the 10 samples which where sequenced using COI gene specific primer, 3 samples were different in morphological and molecular level. This research demonstrates that partial sequences of the COI gene can efficiently identify the six species of marine catfish in Bangladesh, indicating the usefulness of COI-based approach in species identification.
Author(s): Puja Boidya, Wahida Haque* and Md. Mizanur Rahman