Dissimilarity of species and forms of planktonic Neocalanus copepods using mitochondrial COI, 12S, nuclear ITS, and 28S gene sequences.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A total of six Neocalanus species inhabit the oceans of the world. Of these, three species plus form variants (N. cristatus, N. plumchrus, N. flemingeri large form, and N. flemingeri small form), which constitute a monophyletic group among Neocalanus copepods, occur in the Northwestern Pacific off Japan. In the present study, we have tried to discriminate the three species plus form variants of Neocalanus copepods based on sequences of four DNA marker regions.

Methodology/principal findings

Discrimination was performed based on the DNA sequence information from four genetic markers, including the mitochondrial COI, 12S, nuclear ITS, and 28S gene regions. Sequence dissimilarity was compared using both distance- and character-based approaches. As a result, all three

SUBMITTER: Machida RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2860979 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature