Journal of Applied Biosciences (J. Appl. Biosci.) [ISSN 1997 - 5902]
Volume 44: 2972 - 2981. Published August 29, 2011.
Differentiation between four Bovidae species using two transfer RNAs
Hanaa A.S. Oraby*, Amal A.M. Hassan, Soheir M. El Nahas
1Cell biology Department, National Research Center, El Behoth St., Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
*Corresponding author e-mail address: haoraby@hotmail.comABSTRACT
Objectives: Advances in molecular techniques and the great information in the Genbank database offer new approaches to study evolution and genetic relationships in different populations. In the present work a small fragment of mtDNA was used for the differentiation between six animal groups representing four species from family Bovidae.
Methodology and Results: Small fragment of mitochondrial DNA (12bp of CYTB + MT-TT + MT-TP) was amplified and sequenced in 48 Egyptian river buffalo samples. Multiple sequence alignment with the corresponding fragment sequences in other river buffalo counterparts, swamp buffalo, domestic cattle, zebu cattle, sheep and goat in Genbank database indicated that the investigated fragment had a unique sequence for each of the investigated species or subspecies. Two phylogenetic trees were constructed to compare the performance of the investigated fragment in delineation of the six investigated groups with the performance of the CO1 DNA barcode in delineation of the same groups.
Conclusions and application of findings: This study revealed that the investigated fragment (12bp of CYTB + MT-TT + MT-TP) has a unique sequence for each of the studied species or subspecies and could be used for the identification of the investigated groups. The results of the two constructed phylogenetic trees also indicated that CO1 barcode-based tree was not able to discriminate between river buffalo and swamp buffalo subspecies, whereas, the phylogenetic tree constructed using the150 bp mitochondrial DNA fragment showed 100% success in delineation of the investigated groups. These results suggest that the investigated segment has a barcode character and could be used as a complementary locus to CO1 barcode in identifying and discriminating between the investigated groups and especially between the two subspecies of water buffalo species.
Key words: Bovidae, Egyptian river buffalo, Mitochondrial DNA, CYTB gene, MT-TT gene, MT-TP gene, CO1, Species identification, DNA bar-coding
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