How and why DNA barcodes underestimate the diversity of microbial eukaryotes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Because many picoplanktonic eukaryotic species cannot currently be maintained in culture, direct sequencing of PCR-amplified 18S ribosomal gene DNA fragments from filtered sea-water has been successfully used to investigate the astounding diversity of these organisms. The recognition of many novel planktonic organisms is thus based solely on their 18S rDNA sequence. However, a species delimited by its 18S rDNA sequence might contain many cryptic species, which are highly differentiated in their protein coding sequences.

Principal findings

Here, we investigate the issue of species identification from one gene to the whole genome sequence. Using 52 whole genome DNA sequences, we estimated the global genetic divergence in protein coding genes between organisms from d

SUBMITTER: Piganeau G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3037371 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature