Identification of small indigenous fish species dhela (Osteobrama cotio) and darkina (Esomus danricus) using DNA barcoding technique

DNA BARCODING OF DHELA AND DARKINA

Abstract

Species identification through DNA barcoding has been proved to be an effective
method and gained remarkable popularity in taxonomic studies. The present study aimed at
developing molecular technique for identification of two SIS species- Dhela (Osteobrama cotio)
and Darkina (Esomus danricus). For molecular identification of the species, a 650 bp fragment of
the mitochondrial COI gene was amplified using FishF1/FishR1 universal primer set from five
dhela and five darkina specimens. The PCR fragments were sequenced and were compared with
the sequences of NCBI database and BOLD. The results showed a high level of similarities
ranging from 98 to 100% with the sequence of known specimens of the two species available in
the data base. The identifications have also been supported by the phylogeny tree where dhela
samples formed one cluster and the darkina samples formed another cluster. Therefore, DNA bar
coding technique can be used as an effective tool in the identification of adult, larvae or even
eggs of O. cotio and E. danricus. In addition to this, the present study detected a very low level
of haplotype and nucleotide diversity in O. cotio compared to E. danricus.