Identification of Oplophorus gracilirostris from South–East and South–West Coast of India using Mitochondrial Genetic Markers

Rekha Devi Chakraborty; P. Purushothaman; G. Kuberan; Jomon Sebastian; G. Maheswarudu

Volume : III, Issue : VI, June - 2014

Identification of Oplophorus gracilirostris from South–East and South–West Coast of India using Mitochondrial Genetic Markers

Rekha Devi Chakraborty, P. Purushothaman, G. Kuberan, Jomon Sebastian, G. Maheswarudu

Abstract :

The present study reports the occurrence of Oplophorus gracilirostris A. Milne-Edwards, 1881 from southeast and south-west coast of India on the basis of morphological as well as molecular data. It is the first report of insight into the mitochondrial genetic variation of O. gracilirostris. For this study, the DNA sequences of three mitochondrial genes, large subunit ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA), cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cyt b) were submitted in the GenBank. Morphological examination of the specimen confirmed the identity of the species as O. gracilirostris. The pairwise genetic distance analysis, sequence identity and phylogenetic tree have shown that the specimen has identity with O. gracilirostris only on the basis of 16S rDNA sequence of earlier reports. In the case of COI it has shown some identity towards Oplophorus typus and Oplophorus spinosus, but with a high genetic difference. This is the first submission of Cyt b sequence of O. gracilirostris. This study with sequence data of O. gracilirostris in GenBank will provide molecular support to the taxonomical identifications carried out on morphological basis