DNA barcoding and phylocenetic relationship of species belonging to family ariidae

Abstract

Ariidae is the economically valuable family of Siluriformes, which are widely distributed in both fresh and brackish water. Currently, there are seven species distributed in the Mekong Delta among 153 species in the world. This study was aimed to identify DNA barcoding and comprehend phylogenetic relationship of these species in the Mekong Delta by using mitochondrial genome Cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI). Six species consist of Sciades sagor (n=2), Arius maculatus (n=10), Arius nenga (n=3), Cryptarius truncatus (n=1), Cephalocassis borneensis (n=11) and Osteogeneiosus militaris (n=3) were collected from natural water bodies in the provinces of Can Tho, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh and Ca Mau of the Mekong Delta. Firstly, fish samples were identified by external morphological characteristics. Then, DNA were extracted, and a 674 base pair of COI gene was amplified with a mixture of COI primers. Results of K2P-based genetic distance and phylogenetic tree revealed these six species separated into 2 main groups. Typically, S. sagor is in an isolated clade ranging 0.114 to 0.140 genetic distance compared to the other species. In addition, A. maculatus and A. nenga gather together with a small genetic distance (0.060). Cephalocassis borneensis and Cryptarius truncatus have a genetically closed (0.061). Furthermore, intraspecific genetic distance of Ariidae species ranges from 0.000 – 0.004 with the the highest diverse value from O. militaris and A. maculatus and the smallest from S. sagor.