DNA barcoding echinoderms from the East Coast of South Africa. The challenge to maintain DNA data connected with taxonomy

ABSTRACT: Echinoderms are marine water invertebrates that are represented by more than 7000 extant species, grouped in five classes and showing diverse morphologies (starfish, sea lilies, feather stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle and basket stars). In an effort to further study their diversity, DNA barcodes (DNA fragments of the 5’ end of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, COI) have been used to complement morphological examination in identifying evolutionary lineages. Although divergent clusters of COI sequences were reported to generally match morphological species delineations, they also revealed some discrepancies, suggesting overlooked species, ecophenotypic variation or multiple COI lineages within one species. Here, we sequenced COI fragments of 312 shallow-water echinoderms of

SUBMITTER: Sonet G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9550079 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature